Collision and Crash
While cruising at 6,000 feet under IFR rules, a four-engine aircraft and a Royal Canadian Air Force North American T-6 Harvard, registered 3309, collided in midair. The Harvard pilot, the sole occupant of the training aircraft, had just departed Moose Jaw Airfield for a local training mission. Following the collision, both aircraft went out of control and dove into the ground. The Harvard crashed on a golf course, while the North Star—the four-engine aircraft—crashed onto a house in a suburb of Moose Jaw.
Fatalities
The pilot of the Harvard was killed, as were all 35 occupants aboard the TCAL aircraft and one person inside the house.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined the accident was caused by the following factors:
- Failure on the part of the pilots of both aircraft to maintain a proper lookout, the onus of responsibility for keeping out of the way being with the Harvard aircraft as it had the other on its own right side.
- The Harvard aircraft, in crossing the airway, climbed through altitudes normally used by aircraft flying along the airway.
- The Board up to the present has been unable to determine whether the window post on the left side of the Canadair C4-1 aircraft hid the Harvard aircraft from view, but there are indications that this was possible.