History of the Flight
The aircraft, a Piper PA-31-350 registered as C-GBYL, operated by Aéropro as Flight APO754, departed Port Menier, Quebec, for Du Rocher-Percé Aerodrome (Pabok) with four passengers and one pilot. At 1005 EST, the pilot received weather information and authorization for an approach at Pabok. The pilot did not execute the published instrument approach procedure; instead, he improvised a flight path. After orbiting the aerodrome, he executed a missed approach at 1020 due to snow-covered runway.
At 1027, the pilot informed Québec Radio that he was heading to Gaspé, the alternate airport. During the first LOC(BC)/DME approach to Runway 29 at Gaspé, the aircraft was high and fast; the pilot executed a missed approach at 1047. He requested to repeat the approach and did not follow the published missed procedure.
At 1104, the pilot received updated weather. He conducted a manual approach. After passing the final approach fix, he established visual contact and descended. The aircraft began weaving and crossed the runway centerline. At about 1110, the aircraft landed 60 feet left of the runway and 2400 feet past the threshold on snow-covered ground. The nosewheel broke, and the aircraft overturned. One passenger was seriously injured; the four other occupants received minor injuries.
Personnel Information
The pilot was certified and qualified per regulations. He had approximately 2200 total flying hours, with about 300 on the PA-31. In the 30 days prior, he had flown 70 hours. On the day of the accident, he woke at 0430 and arrived at the office at 0605 to prepare for a schedule of 10 flights totaling 7 hours 44 minutes. The flight manifests had unrealistic departure times.
Meteorological Information
At 0822, the pilot obtained the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) for Gaspé. Conditions at Gaspé deteriorated after 0900 from VMC to IMC. At 1000, visibility was ¾ mile in light snow, vertical visibility 1400 feet. At 1100, it was ¾ mile, 1100 feet. At 1113, visibility dropped to ¼ mile in heavy snow, vertical visibility 700 feet. A special observation was being collected as the aircraft crashed.
Aerodrome Information
Gaspé Airport is Transport Canada-certified and uncontrolled. Runway 11/29 is 4500 feet long, 150 feet wide, paved. Runway 29 has approach lights, runway identification lights, medium-intensity runway edge lights, threshold/runway end lights, a PAPI with 3° slope, and an ARCAL system. Snow removal was not performed before the second approach due to the aircraft's early arrival. The CRFI was 0.20 and the runway was completely covered with loose snow.