A high-performance plane carrying four people crashed at the Westlock Regional Airport two years ago due to operator error, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined in a report released Wednesday.
The 2017 Daher-Socata TBM-910 six-seater single-turboprop plane crashed while landing at the airport north of Edmonton on Oct. 10, 2021.
The plane took off from Vernon, B.C., that morning and made a stop at the Springbank Airport near Calgary to pick up two passengers and drop off a bike, the TSB said, before it carried on north towards Edmonton.
The TSB report said the pilot initially intended to land at the Villeneuve Airport just west of Edmonton, but because of weather conditions, he called into the Edmonton terminal and requested the flight plan be amended to land further north at Westlock Aerodrome instead.
While he was conducting an instrument flight rules (IFR) trip — which would qualify him to fly through clouds and poor weather — the TSB said the pilot wanted to land in Westlock instead “because weather conditions at that location met visual meteorological conditions, which would permit a visual flight rules (VFR) approach.”
VFR allows pilots to operate aircraft in weather clear enough to see where they are going, with strict requirements for visibility and cloud cover.
Essentially, the weather conditions on that October day were clearer north of Edmonton.
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The TSB said the plane was coming in to land on Runway 28 at the Westlock Aerodrome around 11 a.m. with the pilot and three passengers on board when the crash happened.
The aircraft made its final approach above the optimal three-degree descent path and, during the steep approach that followed, the aircraft’s airspeed continually decelerated and resulted in an unstabilized approach.
“On short final, the pilot reduced the rate of descent by increasing pitch rather than by adding power. As a result, the airspeed continued to decrease and the aircraft entered a stall, resulting in a hard landing and a subsequent bounce,” the TSB report said.
When the aircraft bounced, the pilot initiated a go-around — an aviation maneuver in which the landing is aborted and the pilot attempts to climb back up into the air and attempt another landing.
While applying engine power for the go-around, the TSB said the aircraft’s right wing tip dragged along the ground, which then caused the plane to roll to the left, flip upside-down and come to a rest on its roof, in the grass about 50 feet from the runway.
“During the attempted rejected landing, the aircraft entered a 25-degree nose-high attitude and approached a stall condition. This low-speed condition combined with the high power setting resulted in the aircraft entering a rapid roll to the left and striking the runway in an inverted attitude,” the report stated.
The three passengers were able to get out of the plane through the main cabin door: one had serious injuries and the other two had minor injuries.
The TSB said the passengers — who had routinely flown with the pilot and were familiar with the plane — did not receive a safety briefing before departure or before landing that day.
Multiple items in the cabin were not secured and not all of the passengers were wearing their shoulder harnesses.
As a result, one passenger was seriously injured when loose items were thrown around in the cabin and when she was rocked about during the violence of the crash.
The 60-year-old pilot, who was seriously injured, was trapped in the cockpit for about two hours before first responders rescue him.
Although the pilot was wearing his lap belt, the TSB said he did not wear the airbag-equipped shoulder harness. The shoulder harness straps were not fastened to the lap belt, and this allowed the pilot to be flung around the cockpit during the crash.
“At some point during the impact sequence, the pilot’s head struck the ceiling and pilot door frame structure and he received serious head injuries,” the TSB said.
An emergency locator transmitter signal was received by the search and rescue satellite system. The aircraft was significantly damaged and there was no post-impact fire, the TSB said.
A TSB examination of the wreckage did not uncover any indication of airframe or engine failure or system malfunctions.
The pilot was taking a medication that was not disclosed during his last aviation medical exam three weeks prior to the crash and is not approved for use by holders of flight crew licences.
That said, the TSB found there was no indication his performance was affected by factors like fatigue or medications, so the TSB determined the crash was caused by decisions made during the hard landing.
The TBM-910 was registered to a numbered company in the Granite Ridge community just west of Calgary, and based out of the nearby Springbank Airport, according to Transport Canada registration data.
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