Royal Canadian Air Force - RCAF

The crew (one instructor and three pilots under training) departed Shearwater Airport on a local training mission. The crew decided to perform a flapless landing but the aircraft arrived too high and to correct the situation, the pilot-in-command nosed down when the aircraft landed very hard and bounced. The crew initiated a go-around procedure and decided to follow a holding pattern after being informed by ATC based in the tower that the right main gear seems to be damaged. About 40 minutes later, the right main gear fell away. The right engine then lost power and a fire erupted in the right wheel well. The crew declared an emergency and was cleared to return to Shearwater Airport. Upon landing, the aircraft sank on its right side then rolled for few dozen metres before coming to rest, bursting into flames. All four occupants escaped uninjured before an explosion occurred in the central fuel tank.

The airplane, a CC130, callsign Trucker 5, departed 18 Wing Namao, Alberta, at 1555Z on a VFR, Tactical Airlift Mission (TAL) to Camp Wainwright, Extraction Zone (EZ) Saville Farm. The aircraft was configured for a Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System (LAPES) drop and had a total all-up-weight (AUW) for takeoff of 118,914 pounds. A dry pass was made in Namao to practice a LAPES profile and an emergency. Following the dry pass, the proceeded on the low level route portion of their mission to EZ Saville Farm. The mission progressed normally to the extraction zone. The aircraft arrived at Saville Farm on time and proceeded to carry out the LAPES extraction. During the LAPES profile, the aircraft impacted the ground shortly after their expected Time On Target (TOT) of 1630Z. Five crew members were killed and four others were injured. The airplane was destroyed.
Crew:
Maj A. G. Niles, aircraft commander,
Cpt Michael G. Allen, pilot, †
Cpt Vincent L. Schurman, copilot, †
Cpt E. R. M. Juneau, navigator,
Sgt H. J. Lous, flight engineer,
W/O S. J. Hull, flight engineer,
M/WO Joseph Sylvio Castonguay, CABC, †
Sgt Alain Michaud, loadmaster, †
M/Cpl Ronald J. McWilliam, loadmaster, †

Every year, in the cold and darkness of late October, personnel at Canadian Forces Station Alert on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, gather at a cairn near the runway to remember the crew and passengers of Hercules 130322 who lost their lives during a resupply mission to the station. On October 30, 1991, at approximately 4:40 p.m., flight 22 of Operation Boxtop – as the biannual resupply mission is called – was on its final approach to the station from Thule Air Force Base in Greenland. As the CC-130 Hercules from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, loaded with 3,400 litres of diesel fuel, began its descent, the pilot flying lost sight of the runway. Moments later, radar contact and communication were lost as the aircraft crashed approximately 16 km south of the station. The crew of another CC-130 Hercules, also bound for Alert, saw the fires of the crash and identified the location of Boxtop 22. The crash took the lives of five Canadian Armed Forces members – four died in the crash and one perished before help arrived – and led to the boldest and most massive air disaster rescue mission ever undertaken by the Canadian military in the High Arctic. Thirteen lives were saved. Within a half hour of the rescue call, a Hercules carrying 12 search and rescue technicians from 440 Search and Rescue Squadron in Edmonton, Alberta, was in the air. It reached the crash site seven and a half hours later, but the SAR technicians couldn’t descend due to the weather. Another Hercules from 413 Search and Rescue Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, soon joined the search. Meanwhile, search and rescue technicians formed a ground rescue team at Alert and set out overland for the crash site, guided through the darkness and horrendous weather conditions by a Hercules. The survivors, some soaked in diesel fuel, endured high winds and temperatures between -20C and -30C. Many sheltered in the tail section of the downed aircraft but others were more exposed to the elements. Finally, the 413 Squadron team finally got a break in the weather and six SAR technicians parachuted into the site more than 32 hours after the crash and began looking for survivors. They were joined soon after by more SAR technicians. When the ground rescue team finally arrived – 21 hours after it had set out – 26 rescuers were on the ground. They warmed and treated the injured and prepared them for medical evacuation. A Twin Huey helicopter from Alert made three trips to bring the survivors back to the station. Once again this year, personnel at Alert will conduct a parade on October 30 to commemorate the crash. The parade will begin at 4:30 p.m. and continue through the 4:40 p.m. timing when the crash occurred.
Those killed were:
Cpt John Couch, pilot,
Cpt Judy Trépanier, logistics officer,
M/WO Tom Jardine, regional services manager CANEX,
W/O Robert Grimsley, supply technician,
M/Cpl Roland Pitre, traffic technician.
Those who survived were:
Robert Thomson,
Susan Hillier,
Cpt Richard Dumoulin, logistics officer,
Cpt Wilma DeGroot, doctor,
Lt Joe Bales, pilot,
Lt Mike Moore, navigator,
M/WO Marc Tremblay, supply technician,
Sgt Paul West, flight engineer,
M/Cpl Tony Cobden, communications researcher,
M/Cpl David Meace, radio technician,
M/Cpl Mario Ellefsen, communications researcher,
M/S “Monty” Montgomery, communications researcher,
Pvt Bill Vance, communications researcher.
Source:
http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=remembering-the-crash-of-boxtop-flight-22/ig9v1k0t

On short final to Fort Wainwright AFB, the airplane lost height, struck approach equipments then an embankment and eventually crashed about 600 feet short of runway threshold. Both pilots and seven passengers were killed while nine other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed. It was engaged in a combined exercice called 'Brim Frost'. At the time of the accident, the OAT was -46° C.

The aircraft, with a crew of three and five civilian spotters, was engaged in an Air Search Mission in the Kananaskis area west of Calgary, after two airplanes were missing. The weather was good and the terrain consisted of hills and valleys with peaks up to 7,000 feet. The search profile was a 500 feet AGL contour search. Two hours and 20 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft impacted at 5,900 feet ASL on the west slope of 6,200 foot feature. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and post crash fire, and all occupants sustained fatal injuries.
Crew:
Cpt D. Wayne Plumbtree, pilot,
Cpt E. M. Kates, copilot,
Sgt Brian G. Burkitt, flight engineer.
Passengers:
Mr. D. Hall,
Mr. J. Schindler,
Mr. C. Masur,
Mr. C. Grant,
Miss P. McLean.

The Squadron was tasked to carry out a fly-past in commemoration of the 61st anniversary of the RCAF in conjunction with other base aircraft. At the conclusion of the fly-past the three CC-130 crews planned to recover on runway 29 utilizing a low level 'battle' break manoeuvre. They positioned themselves in echelon right with wingspan spacing. The briefed procedure was to pull 10° and turn left with 60° of bank maintaining 2 G's, climbing to 1,000 feet AGL to position themselves downwind. Number 2 & 3 would follow each with three seconds spacing. After approximately 50° of turn at 900 feet AGL number 2 collided with the underside of lead forward of the LH main gear, punching a 5 foot square hole in the aircraft floor structure. The number 2 aircraft had its forward fuselage section separate from the aircraft and freefall into a field. The numbers 3 and 4 propellers separated and landed some distance from the main wreckage. The tail section of the lead aircraft also separated prior to ground impact. Control of either aircraft after collision was impossible. The four occupants of the lead aircraft and the six occupants of number 2 all sustained fatal injuries. Both aircraft crashed inverted and a building and several vehicles were destroyed in a very intense fire.
Crew:
Cpt Robert William Drake, pilot,
Cpt Iain David Mahaffey, pilot,
Cpt John Derek Thornton, pilot,
Cpt David Arthur Jon Whalen, pilot,
W/O William Iver Oness, flight engineer.
Passenger:
Cpl J. M. Doucet, ATC.

The Squadron was tasked to carry out a fly-past in commemoration of the 61st anniversary of the RCAF in conjunction with other base aircraft. At the conclusion of the fly-past the three CC-130 crews planned to recover on runway 29 utilizing a low level 'battle' break manoeuvre. They positioned themselves in echelon right with wingspan spacing. The briefed procedure was to pull 10° and turn left with 60° of bank maintaining 2 G's, climbing to 1,000 feet AGL to position themselves downwind. Number 2 & 3 would follow each with three seconds spacing. After approximately 50° of turn at 900 feet AGL number 2 collided with the underside of lead forward of the LH main gear, punching a 5 foot square hole in the aircraft floor structure. The number 2 aircraft had its forward fuselage section separate from the aircraft and freefall into a field. The numbers 3 and 4 propellers separated and landed some distance from the main wreckage. The tail section of the lead aircraft also separated prior to ground impact. Control of either aircraft after collision was impossible. The four occupants of the lead aircraft and the six occupants of number 2 all sustained fatal injuries. Both aircraft crashed inverted and a building and several vehicles were destroyed in a very intense fire.
Crew:
Cpt Lonnie Benjamin Register Jr., pilot,
Cpt Kevin Ernest Gerald Kennedy, copilot,
Cpt Brian John Tulloch, navigator,
Sgt Robert Harry Brown, flight engineer.

On final approach to runway 29, the crew attempted to drop the load that jammed on the rear ramp. The aircraft banked left, causing the left wing to hit the ground. The aircraft went out of control and crashed. All seven crew members (six Canadians and one American) were killed.