What happened
The incident involved a control flight conducted by a pilot who was the sole person on board. The aircraft departed from Montreal-Saint-Hubert Airport with the objective of reaching Matchi-Manitou. During the approach, the pilot attempted to land on a frozen lake surface in the destination area.
Upon touchdown, the airframe suffered a catastrophic structural failure, breaking into two distinct sections. The wreckage came to rest on the ice. The pilot successfully evacuated from the aircraft and was not injured. The aircraft was abandoned at the scene due to the nature of the damage. In subsequent weeks, as temperatures rose and the lake ice melted, the submerged wreckage sank below the water surface.
The flight was being operated under a specific mandate for the Controller of Civil Aviation, indicating an official operational context rather than private leisure use.