What happened
On the morning of the accident, a Piper Navajo PA-31, registration C-GUVK, departed Dorval Airport, Quebec, for a multi-day charter mission. The flight included two pilots and two passengers, with an intended route involving stops at Rouyn and La Grande Rivière before proceeding to La Grande.
During the flight, the crew attempted a VOR/DME approach to runway 31 at La Grande Rivière but was forced to execute a missed approach due to poor weather conditions. The crew then diverted toward their alternate airport, La Grande 4. Approximately 15 nautical miles north of La Grande 3 Airport, the aircraft's engines began to misfire. Although the pilot reselected the fuel selector lever, the engines ceased operation approximately five minutes later.
An emergency was declared as the pilot attempted an LOC/DME approach to runway 29 at La Grande 3. Upon breaking through the clouds at 300 feet, the aircraft struck trees near a small lake, roughly four nautical miles southeast of the airport. While the two pilots and one passenger escaped without injury, one passenger sustained minor leg injuries. The aircraft suffered substantial damage.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the flight planning process and the crew's management of fuel. It was established that while the flight was prepared using FliteStar software, the pilot did not cross-reference the digital output with aeronautical charts. Although the flight plan explicitly included a refueling stop at Rouyn, the aircraft was not refueled at that location.
Investigators examined the crew's experience and the company's training protocols. The pilot-in-command was performing his first flight as pilot-in-command for the company and his first flight in a multi-crew configuration. The co-pilot was also relatively new to the company and the region. Furthermore, the investigation found that the crew did not utilize the aircraft's checklists or calculate en route fuel consumption. The pilot also noted that the fuel gauges appeared to be reading low, but he incorrectly assumed the gauges were defective rather than recognizing the actual fuel level.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was that the crew failed to refuel at Rouyn as planned, leaving the aircraft with insufficient fuel to complete the flight segment.
- The crew did not fully comprehend the flight plan documents and failed to calculate fuel consumption during the flight.
- The pilot-in-call did not verify the flight distances against aeronautical charts during the planning phase.
- The crew did not utilize the aircraft's checklists, which contained multiple fuel-related prompts.
- The pilot-in-command dismissed declining fuel gauge readings as equipment malfunction rather than a lack of fuel.