A crash of a small plane north of Mayo has claimed the life of the pilot.

The single turbine engine Otter owned by Black Sheep Aviation went down approximately 65 kilometres northeast of the community on Thursday after leaving Mayo earlier in the day on what was expected to be a round trip flight to Rackla.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria said today the Duncan, B.C. pilot, whose name hasn't been released, was the only person aboard.

Weather is not believed to be a factor in the crash which happened in mountainous terrain.

The RCMP and Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Jon Lee, the western regional manager of the federal Transportation Safety Board, was unsure of the time of the crash. The emergency signal was received by the rescue co-ordination centre at 5:40 p.m., he said.

The crash would likely have occurred shortly after that, although just how long after isn't known.

The RCMP said today a helicopter and crew were dispatched to the site when the call came in. It was confirmed the pilot had not survived.

The pilot's body wasn't able to be taken out of the wreckage.

Transportation Safety Board crews were expected to arrive in Mayo later today to begin their investigation.

The first phase will see crews in the field collect evidence at the scene.

It's expected that phase will take between three and five days to complete, but again, the exact timeline will depend on what crews discover when they arrive.

The second part of the investigation will see the safety board analyze information such as the weather, the maintenance history of the plane and the pilot's history, among other data. That could take anywhere from one to four months, with the safety board then assessing whether to make the report on the crash public.

As Lee explained, in some situations, such reports aren't made public because safety isn't seen as being advanced.

Black Sheep Aviation isn't commenting on the tragedy.

– With files from The Canadian Press.