What happened
On the morning of the accident, a Piper PA-34-220T (Seneca III), registration C-FRKZ, departed Edmonton City Centre Airport for a chartered flight to High Prairie, Alberta. The aircraft was operating under instrument flight rules with a pilot and one passenger on board. After being cleared out of controlled airspace near High Prairie, the aircraft failed to arrive at its destination.
Following a communications search that yielded no results, search and rescue teams were dispatched. Despite low visibility and heavy cloud cover hindering the search, the aircraft was eventually located in a dense forest approximately seven nautical miles southeast of the High Prairie Airport. The impact destroyed the aircraft, and both the pilot and the passenger sustained fatal injuries.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the aircraft's descent and the lack of available flight data. Because the aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, investigators could not definitively reconstruct the final moments of the flight. The wreckage showed that the aircraft struck the trees at a steep angle of approximately 22 degrees with a significant right bank, while the landing gear was up and flaps were retracted.
Engine examinations revealed that the engines were producing considerable power at the moment of impact, and all control surfaces remained intact, suggesting no mechanical failure occurred. While the GPS was recovered, it was not certified for use in domestic instrument flight guidance. The investigation also noted that weather conditions in the area included low ceilings and visibility restricted by rain and mist.
Findings
- The aircraft descended below the minimum safe altitude prescribed for the NDB approach to High Prairie.
- Low cloud ceilings and poor visibility may have prevented the pilot from using external visual references to maintain altitude or recover the aircraft if control was lost.
- The lack of a cockpit video digital recorder (CVDR) or similar device prevented investigators from identifying the specific initiating events that led to the descent.