Hang-glider pilot facing new charge in woman's death
CBC News
Posted: Feb 15, 2013 5:43 PM PT
Last Updated: Feb 15, 2013 7:23 PM PT
William Jonathan Orders, 50, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.
A B.C. hang-glider pilot who was involved in a fatal accident last year is facing a new charge of criminal negligence causing death, according to court records.
Jon Orders, 50, was the pilot when passenger Lenami Godinez-Avila, 27, plunged 300 metres to her death last April shortly after the pair took off from a mountainside in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver.
Orders is already facing an obstruction of justice charge for allegedly swallowing a memory card that was believed to contain a video of the fatal flight.
Last summer an investigation by the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada said multiple distractions before takeoff contributed to the pilot's failure to ensure Godinez-Avila was properly harnessed to the glider.
Orders apologized to the Mexican student's family last year and said he wouldn't return to hang gliding. He is scheduled to appear in Chilliwack provincial court Monday.
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