What happened
On the night of the accident, a Fairchild SA226TC (Metroliner) operated by Perimeter Airlines departed Gods Lake Narrows, Manitoba, for a medical evacuation mission to Shamattawa. The flight, designated PAG962, carried two pilots and one flight nurse. As the aircraft approached its destination at approximately 23:00 CDT, the crew descended through an overcast layer to reach a safe altitude of 2300 feet above sea level.
While attempting a visual approach to Runway 01, the crew found the aircraft was traveling at an excessive speed and remained too high on the final approach path. Consequently, the pilots initiated a missed approach procedure. At 23:33, roughly 30 seconds after increasing engine power, the aircraft struck trees located approximately 2600 feet from the end of the runway, slightly left of the centerline.
The impact caused the aircraft to break into pieces across an 850-foot debris field, leaving only the rear portion of the cabin relatively intact. The crash resulted in two fatalities (the captain and first officer) and one serious injury (the flight nurse). A fire occurred following the impact but was limited to the separated wing sections.
Findings
Investigation into the accident identified several contributing factors. The primary cause was that the aircraft struck terrain during an overshoot because a necessary climb angle was not established or maintained to ensure a positive rate of climb.
Investigators noted that conditions during the go-around likely induced a somatogravic illusion, which may have caused the captain to lose situational awareness. Additionally, the first officer failed to monitor flight instruments effectively, potentially due to distraction by a non-directional beacon or the same sensory illusion. Other contributing elements included the lack of approach aids at the destination and company procedures that did not clearly define how to verify a positive rate of climb.