History of the Flight
The Scenic Air Services Ltd. Piper PA-18-150 (C-FIWV), equipped with floats, departed Tootsie Lake, British Columbia, at 1119 Pacific daylight time on a day visual flight rules flight. The destination was Linda Lake, British Columbia, approximately 15 miles away. The pilot intended to retrieve moose meat, antlers, and camp materials from an outfitter's camp. This was the pilot's third return trip to Linda Lake that day and his fourth flight overall. After departure, no further communication was received from the aircraft. At 1228, the Search and Rescue Satellite System detected an emergency locator transmitter signal. The outfitter reported the aircraft overdue at 1346. A helicopter from Watson Lake, Yukon, located the wreckage at 1602 on the shoreline of Linda Lake. The aircraft was substantially damaged, and the pilot, the lone occupant, suffered fatal injuries. No post-impact fire occurred. The camp at Linda Lake was unoccupied, and there were no witnesses.
Injuries to Persons
The pilot, the only person on board, received fatal injuries. No other injuries were reported.
Damage to Aircraft
Impact patterns indicated the aircraft struck the ground in a steep, right-wing-low attitude at low forward speed. The float struts collapsed, and the right wing sustained heavy impact damage. The cabin structure partially collapsed, and the pilot seat support structure buckled, indicating high vertical deceleration forces. The flap handle was set in the second of three extended positions, showing intermediate flap deployment at impact.
Personnel Information
The pilot held a commercial pilot licence valid for single-engine landplanes and seaplanes, with a restriction to daylight flying, and also held an aircraft maintenance engineer licence. He had accumulated 2500 total flying hours, with 1600 hours on the PA-18 type. In the last 90 days, he flew 171 hours. He had 5 hours on duty before the accident and 12 hours off prior to the work period. Described as a skilled and cautious flyer and meticulous engineer, he obtained his private licence in 1971 and commercial licence with float endorsement in 1974. His logbook showed no entries between 1977 and 1997. Before starting with Scenic Air Services in spring 1997, he received 3.8 hours of recurrent training in a wheel-equipped Cessna 172. No further formal flight training was recorded after 1997. He was appointed Chief Pilot and Operations Manager in July 1997, subject to a six-month Transport Canada review, but no record of that review was found. He also held multiple management roles including Director of Maintenance, Quality Manager, and others.
Aircraft Information
The aircraft was a 1958 Piper PA-18-150, serial number 18-6299, with a Lycoming O-320-A2B engine and a McCauley 1A175-GM8241 propeller. It was equipped with Canadian Aircraft Products (CAP) 67-2000 floats. Total airframe time was 3624 hours. The certificate of airworthiness was issued April 17, 2003. The most recent 100-hour inspection was completed 48.4 hours before the accident. All flight and engine controls were continuous, and damage was solely from impact. Sufficient fuel was onboard for the flight. Propeller damage indicated the engine was likely at mid-range power at impact. The right magneto was found to be intermittently inoperative due to a grounded core wire; examination showed broken copper strands and insulation failure. The engine manufacturer stated that loss of one magneto would reduce power by 9 to 10 percent at full throttle. The rear cockpit control stick had been removed, and a protective cover was installed over the rear stick socket. Contact marks on the cover suggested the stick socket touched when fully aft, but no interference was evident. A six-foot-long cargo box was fitted aft of the cabin, resembling a ski cargo box approved for another PA-18 in 1972 under approval number W72-199, but no record of installation in this aircraft. The box weighed about nine pounds. The aircraft also had a VHF FM radio not accounted for in weight and balance. The propeller was installed under Supplemental Type Certificate SA279AL, but that STC did not cover operation with the CAP 67-2000 floats.
Weight and Balance
The original weight and balance report used a datum 60 inches forward of the wing leading edge, but the current type certificate uses the wing leading edge. The aircraft was last weighed on March 18, 1974. Three amendments were made between 1974 and August 2001, but two contained errors mixing datum references, leading to an erroneous empty weight center of gravity. When floats were installed on August 16, 2001, two conflicting weight and balance reports were found: one listed float weight as 236 pounds and empty weight as 1224.5 pounds; the other listed 286 pounds and 1274.5 pounds. Actual float weight per data was 290 pounds, plus 2.5 pounds for step and paddle. It is unknown if the pilot was aware of these errors. Cargo at the accident site weighed 41 pounds of antlers secured to the right float struts, and 301 pounds of meat, cape, camp materials, and survival gear in the rear seat area. The left float contained 37 pounds of water; the right float sustained heavy damage.