What happened
On the morning of the incident, two aircraft were operating under visual flight rules (VFR) in the airspace near St. Briely, Saskatchewan. The first aircraft, a Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow with registration C-GLAJ, was traveling from Nanton, Alberta, toward St. Brieux. On board the Piper were the pilot and two passengers.
Simultaneously, a Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer amphibian, registered as C-GFCH, was flying from Regina to La Ronge, Saskatchewan. This aircraft was carrying a pilot and one passenger. At roughly 0841 Central Standard Time, the two aircraft collided approximately 8 nautical miles west of St. Brieux. The impact caused both planes to fall to the ground at two separate locations situated about 0.5 nautical miles from each other. The collision resulted in two fatalities across both aircraft, as there were no survivors. No post-crash fire occurred, and the emergency locator transmitters failed to activate following the impact.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the circumstances leading to the mid-air impact between the two VFR-operated aircraft. Investigators examined the flight paths of the C-GLAJ and C-GFCH to determine how the collision occurred while both crews were operating under visual flight rules. The study also looked into the failure of the emergency locator transmitters to trigger after the crash.