What happened
On the night of 1 June 2019, an American Aircraft AA-5B, registered as C-GQIJ, was conducting a visual flight rules (VFR) flight from Medicine Hat Airport, Alberta, to Moose Jaw/Air Vice Marshal C.M. McEwen Airport, Saskatchewan. The aircraft was carrying a pilot and two passengers. Although the flight was scheduled to arrive at 00:30, the aircraft departed after the onset of official night hours.
There were no records indicating that the pilot had filed a flight plan or received a weather briefing from NAV CANADA. At the time of departure, local meteorological reports indicated visibility of approximately 4 statute miles due to smoke.
After the aircraft failed to arrive at its destination, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Trenton was notified that the plane was overdue early the following morning. Following the opening of a missing aircraft file, a search was initiated. At 09:34 on 2 June, the RCMP located the aircraft on unworked farmland roughly 18 nautical miles east of Medicine Hat, near Irvine, Alberta. Shortly after the discovery, a military aircraft detected a weak signal from the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Search and rescue technicians arrived at the site via parachute and confirmed that the three fatalities occurred upon impact.
The investigation
Investigators focused on the flight's departure conditions and the circumstances surrounding the crash site. The investigation established that the aircraft struck the ground at high velocity. While the 121.5 MHz ELT was found intact, it was manually deactivated by first responders at the scene. The investigation also noted the absence of official flight planning and weather briefing records for the flight.