Just got wind of this accident that occurred earlier today so like my previous quick write-up on 7F6560 in Resolute Bay, I’ll do another 5W-style briefing.
Who: Arctic Sunwest Charter enroute to Yellowknife Water Aerodrome (CEN9) from Thor Lake (CTH2). Commanded by Trevor Jonasson, 36 and Nicole Stacey, 26 of Arctic Sunwest.
What: DHC-6-300 Twin Otter on Floats (C-GARW)
C-GARW on Floats. Image by Jason Pineau.
Where: Off of MacDonald St., Yellowknife (CYZF), NWT
When: 1313 Local YZF Time / 1913 Zulu
Weather:
- METAR CYZF 221200Z 22002KT 15SM FEW220 11/08 A2919
- METAR CYZF 221300Z 20004KT 15SM FEW220 11/08 A2919
- METAR CYZF 221400Z 22006KT 15SM FEW250 10/07 A2919
- METAR CYZF 221500Z 21010G16KT 15SM FEW250 12/07 A2920
- METAR CYZF 221600Z 19010G16KT 15SM FEW250 13/05 A2920
- METAR CYZF 221700Z 24010G22KT 190V260 15SM FEW250 14/03 A2920
- METAR CYZF 221800Z 24010G16KT 15SM FEW250 15/02 A2920
- METAR CYZF 221900Z 23010G17KT 15SM FEW250 16/01 A2920
- SPECI CYZF 221937Z 22011G18KT 190V270 15SM FEW250 17/01 A2921
- METAR CYZF 222000Z 22010G20KT 200V280 15SM FEW250 17/01 A2921
Turbulence and Icing Forecast for NWT during accident period.
And finally here is the information from the Water Aerodrome Supplement of the Yellowknife Terminal Area.
YZF / CEN9 Terminal Area Chart
Of note in the caution area for CEN9 is the following “East Bay open to S winds. Twr 800′ ASL SE side of town. Seaplane, power & sail boat activity concentrated in the Back Bay (W side of peninsula) & East Bay (E side of peninsula) area of Yellowknife Harbour.”
As usual, I am not speculating on any possible contributing factors or causes in the chain-of-events leading to this unfortunate accident. For those interested in discussion of possible causes by other members of the Aviation Community, they can be found in this thread on AvCanada.
The Transport Canada CADORS report can be found here.
I pass on my sympathy and prayers to the fine people at Arctic Sunwest, the passengers and their families affected by this tragedy.
