Wabush Aircraft Crash: Fatal IFR Approach Error (CF-CFL)

Flight Operations and Clearance Error On the evening of the incident, a twin-engine aircraft departed Churchill Falls Airport at 1800 local time for a scheduled 20-minute flight to Wabush. As the aircraft approached its destination, Moncton Centre issued a clearance for an ADF approach using the WK beacon. The copilot acknowledged and read back the instruction. However, the WK beacon was an airway beacon, and the only approved instrument approach procedure at Wabush was based on the WZ beacon. The WK procedure had been cancelled six months prior. ## Approach Deviation and Impact At 1829 local time, the pilot reported crossing the beacon and being on final approach. Minutes later, eyewitnesses observed the aircraft north of the WK beacon, clear of cloud and on a northerly heading. The use of the cancelled WK procedure instead of the approved WZ procedure resulted in a six-mile northward displacement of the approach path. The pilot, believing the beacon was south of the field, continued at minimum approach altitude expecting to see the runway. Routine transmissions were heard before the aircraft impacted the rock face of a lighted open-pit mine 5.5 miles north of the WK beacon. All eight persons on board were killed, including Donald J. McParland, President of Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation, his assistant John Lethbridge, Eric Lambert, and three employees of Acres Canadian Bechtel. ## Contributing Factors The investigation identified several contributing factors. The ATC agency cleared the pilot for a procedure that had been cancelled, a fact the itinerant pilot likely did not know despite having current approach publications. One of the aircraft's two ADF sets was unserviceable, though two serviceable ADFs were required for IFR operations in the area. The copilot, who accepted the incorrect clearance, did not hold an instrument rating and had limited experience in high-speed jet aircraft under IFR night conditions. Additionally, some pilots and ATC staff were uncertain whether the WK procedure had been cancelled, as the cancelled procedure page from the Canada Air Pilot was retained and used routinely by the ATC centre and some pilots.