De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

At approximately 1053 Eastern Daylight Time, de Havilland DHC-2 Mk. 1 amphibious floatplane (registration C-FGYK, serial number 123), operated by Nordair Québec 2000 Inc., took off from runway 31 at La Grande-Rivière Airport, Quebec, for a visual flight rules flight to l’Eau Claire Lake, Quebec, about 190 nautical miles to the north. The take-off run was longer than usual. The aircraft became airborne but was unable to gain altitude. At the runway end, at approximately 50 feet above ground level, the aircraft pitched up and banked left. It then nosed down and crashed in a small shallow lake. The pilot and 1 front-seat passenger were fatally injured and the 3 rear-seat passengers sustained serious injuries. The aircraft broke up on impact, and the forward part of the cockpit was partly submerged. The emergency locator transmitter activated on impact.

The pilot had been advised by the Federal Aviation Administration flight service station (FSS) specialist to remain clear of the destination airport until the specialist could issue a special visual flight rules clearance. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the airport, with a strong southeasterly wind. About 8 minutes after initial contact, the FSS specialist attempted to contact the pilot to issue the clearance but received no response. A witness about 0.5 mile southeast of the accident site said he saw the accident airplane flying very low over the treetops. He said the weather conditions consisted of low clouds, rain, and gusty southeasterly wind estimated at 30 to 40 knots. He said that, as the airplane passed overhead, it turned sharply to the left. As he watched the airplane, the wings rocked violently from side to side, and the nose pitched up and down. As the airplane passed low over hilly, tree-covered terrain, it rolled to the right, the right wing struck a large tree and separated, and the airplane descended behind a stand of trees. Pilots flying in the accident area reported strong wind with significant downdrafts and turbulence. A postaccident examination of the airplane did not disclose any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. Given the lack of mechanical deficiencies and the reports of turbulence and downdrafts, as well as the witness’ account of the airplane’s physical movements, it is likely that the pilot encountered significant terrain-induced turbulence and downdrafts while flying at low altitude. The area surrounding the accident site and portions of the pilot's earlier flight path were bordered by large areas of open and protected water, several of which were suitable for landing the float-equipped airplane.

The float-equipped de Havilland Beaver DHC-2 Mk.I (registration number C-GAXL, serial number 1032), operated by Air Saguenay (1980) Inc., was flying under visual flight rules from Lac des Quatre to Lac Margane, Quebec, with 1 pilot and 5 passengers on board. A few minutes after take-off, the pilot reported intentions of making a precautionary landing due to adverse weather conditions. At approximately 1117, Eastern Daylight Time, the aircraft hit a mountain, 12 nautical miles west-south-west of the southern part of Lac Péribonka. The aircraft was destroyed and partly consumed by the fire that broke out after the impact. The pilot and 3 passengers were killed; 1 passenger sustained serious injuries and 1 passenger sustained minor injuries. No ELT signal was received.

The commercial pilot was taking off on a passenger flight in conjunction with a remote lodge operation under Title 14, CFR Part 91. The pilot said he picked up passengers in the float-equipped airplane on a beach, and water-taxied out into the lake for takeoff. He said he taxied out about 1,200 feet, reversed course into the wind, and initiated a takeoff. He said when the airplane reached his predetermined abort point, the airplane was still on the water, and might not lift off in time to avoid the terrain ahead. The pilot said rather than abort the takeoff he elected to apply full power and continue the takeoff. He said the airplane collided with the bank, and nosed over. The pilot said there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The owner of the company said the lake was about 1 mile wide where the pilot elected to takeoff. He said the airplane received substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. He also said the passengers related to him that the engine sounded fine, but they did not think the pilot taxied out very far into the lake.

The Seair Seaplanes Beaver was departing Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island, for the water aerodrome at the Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia. After an unsuccessful attempt at taking off downwind, the pilot took off into the wind towards Lyall Harbour. At approximately 1603 Pacific Standard Time, the aircraft became airborne, but remained below the surrounding terrain. The aircraft turned left, then descended and collided with the water. Persons nearby responded immediately; however, by the time they arrived at the aircraft, the cabin was below the surface of the water. There were 8 persons on board; the pilot and an adult passenger survived and suffered serious injuries. No signal from the emergency locator transmitter was heard.

The private pilot was taking off in the float plane from the lake's west waterway. The airplane was on step, gaining airspeed, and the takeoff run seemed normal to the pilot. The airplane was nearing takeoff speed, and proceeding directly down the waterway, when it encountered a right quartering tailwind gust that lifted up the right wing and float. The airplane veered to the left toward a steep bank, and the pilot was unable to correct the deviation with the rudder. He did not feel that he could reduce power as he would slam into the bank. The airplane lifted off, but the float collided with the top of the bank. The airplane cartwheeled about 160 degrees to the left before coming to rest on its right side. It sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and floats. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures. Reported wind at the airport approximately 3 minutes after the accident was from 020 degrees magnetic at 3 knots, with no recorded gusts.

The certificated flight instructor was familiarizing the second pilot with ski operations in a ski-equipped airplane during an instructional flight. The flight instructor reported that he took the flight controls from the second pilot to demonstrate a touch-and-go landing on a frozen, snow-covered lake. After landing to the east, the instructor said that he kept the tail of the airplane up and the airspeed just below flying speed in order to make ski tracks on the lake to check the snow conditions. About midway along the lake the instructor added full engine power and the airplane became airborne but failed to climb sufficiently to avoid colliding with an area of rising, tree-covered terrain at the departure end of the lake. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. Postaccident examination revealed no preaccident mechanical anomalies. The instructor noted that after the accident he noticed occasional strong gusts of wind from the west.

The Labrador Air Safari (1984) Inc. float-equipped de Havilland DHC-2 (Beaver) aircraft (registration C-FPQC, serial number 873) departed Crossroads Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, at approximately 0813 Atlantic daylight time with the pilot and six passengers on board. About three minutes after take-off as the aircraft continued in the climb-out, the engine failed abruptly. When the engine failed, the aircraft was about 350 feet above ground with a ground speed of about 85 miles per hour. The pilot initiated a left turn and, shortly after, the aircraft crashed in a bog. The pilot and four of the occupants were seriously injured; two occupants received minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but there was no post-impact fire. The impact forces activated the onboard emergency locator transmitter.

The amphibious-float-equipped airplane departed from a paved runway for the 40-nautical mile flight to its destination, where a water landing on a lake was to be made. The pilot did not raise the landing gear after takeoff. During the flight, the air was bumpy and turbulent, and this resulted in the gear advisory system activating numerous times. The purpose of the system is to alert the pilot of the landing gear position--up for a water landing or down for a runway landing--when the airspeed decreased below a set threshold value. The pilot disabled the system by pulling its circuit breaker because the alerts were becoming a nuisance; he intended to reset the breaker during descent, but did not do so. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot set up a 150- to 200-feet-per-minute rate of descent for a glassy water landing on the lake. With the landing gear in the down position, the airplane contacted the water and abruptly nosed over. The airplane came to rest floating inverted, suspended by the floats. The pilot reported that the day of the accident was his nineteenth consecutive duty day, including office duty and flight duty. He stated that he feels the lack of days off during the previous 19 days was a contributing factor to this accident. When asked what would have prevented the accident, the pilot suggested consistency in using the checklist. On two flights earlier in the day he had used a written checklist; on the accident flight he did not.

The float-equipped airplane was departing from a remote bay 20 miles north of Ketchikan, Alaska, to return air taxi passengers to Ketchikan after a ground tour. The accident pilot, who reported that he had 17,000 flight hours and 7,000 hours in the make and model of the accident airplane, said that southeasterly winds had begun to increase while he was waiting at the bay for the passengers to return from the tour. He said that, unlike when he had landed about 2.5 hours earlier, it was no longer “nice and calm” when the passengers returned. The pilot noticed choppy waves in parts of a nearby cove. To avoid some of the wind and waves, the pilot elected to take off toward the interior of the bay, in the direction of rising terrain. The pilot said that he had never taken off in that direction before. The pilot also said that he had intended to make a shallow, right-climbing turn toward the mouth of the bay and away from the terrain, but shortly after takeoff, he saw numerous choppy waves concentrated along his proposed departure flightpath, which he said indicated to him that strong winds were likely along that path. The pilot decided to change his plan and continue flying straight temporarily, away from the waves, and to make a left, 180-degree turn inside the bay, which was surrounded by high terrain. The pilot indicated that when the turn was initiated, the airplane was about 400 feet above the water, and he did not recall the indicated airspeed. The attempted 180-degree turn was within the airplane’s performance capabilities but placed it closer to rising terrain. While attempting this turn, the pilot encountered a downdraft, was unable to climb above the terrain, and stalled the airplane about 60 feet above the ground. The downdraft likely made it more difficult to avoid descending into the rising terrain. A weather study by the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that there was a gust front in the area and an abrupt wind change about the time of the accident. Pilots flying nearby also reported low-level windshear, strong winds, and turbulence. No mechanical anomalies were discovered during postaccident inspections by the Safety Board. Five passengers including two children were killed. A month later, one of the survivor died from his injuries.