Nunavut

The aircraft was chartered by the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, a national Eskimo organization, and was bringing delegates to a week-long land claims conference at Pond Inlet back to their home settlements. En route, the crew was informed that a landing in Frobisher Bay was not possible due to the deterioration of the weather conditions. The crew apparently decided to divert to another aircraft but few dozen minutes later, while cruising at an altitude of 9,000 feet, the captain informed ATC that he was low of fuel and should land. He eventually completed a belly landing in an open land located about 80 km north of Frobisher Bay. All 26 occupants were rescued and the airplane, damaged beyond repair, was abandoned on site.

During take-off from a gravel bar along the edge of the Duke of York River, the Otter became airborne but did not gain altitude. Shortly thereafter, it contacted a steep gravel river bank, made a shallow turn to the right, settled into the river and slowly nosed over, coming to rest inverted in three or four feet of water. Water began to pour in on the two crew and five passengers, who were hanging upside down still strapped into their seats. They managed to free themselves and wade ashore.
Source: https://www.dhc-3archive.com/DHC-3_389.html

Lockheed L-188 Aircraft CF-PAB operated as Panarctic flight 416 and departed Calgary International Airport at 18:05 hours 29 October 1974. The aircraft was on a routine positioning flight to Edmonton with a pilot-in-command, co-pilot and flight engineer on board. The 30-minute flight was uneventful with no unserviceabilities reported by the crew. The aircraft was prepared for the continuing flight north with the loading of 20000 lb of baggage and freight and 21000 lb of jet B fuel. The aircraft pilot-in-command and flight engineer were replaced by those scheduled for the Edmonton to Rea Point leg. The pilot-in-command received a weather briefing; an IFR flight plan was filed at an initial cruising altitude of 18000 ft with Pedder Point as the alternate. The estimated time en-route was 4 hours 12 minutes. After loading 30 passengers and a fourth crew man, the loadmaster/flight attendant, the aircraft departed the Edmonton International Airport at 20:04 hours. The flight proceeded uneventfully, cruising at 18 000ft to Fort Smith where it was cleared to flight level 210. The aircraft reported over Byron Bay at 23:04 hours with an estimated time of arrival at Rea Point of 00:16. About 100 miles north of Byron Bay the aircraft was cleared to flight level 250. Radio contact was established with Rea Point about 150 miles out and a descent was started for a straight-in VOR/DME approach to runway 33. The descent was smooth except for some turbulence at 4000 ft. The aircraft levelled at 17 miles DME from Rea Point at 2000 ft for a period of 1 minute 45 seconds. The aircraft then slowly descended to about 875 ft ASL at 6 miles DME. A call was made to Rea Point advising them of the DME range on final. There was light turbulence. Fifteen hundred horsepower was selected on the engines; both the VHF navigation radios were selected to the Rea Point VOR frequency and both ADF's were selected to the Rea Point OX nondirectional beacon. Both cockpit barometric altimeters were set to 29.91 in of mercury, the latest Rea Point setting. The airspeed was indicating 150 kt which, with a 30 kt headwind component, resulted in a ground speed of 120 kt. The pre-landing check had been completed, 100 per cent flap selected and the landing gear was down. The landing lights were extended but were off, the wing leading edge lights as well as the alternate taxi lights were on. Glare had been experienced from external lights early in the descent from 10000 ft, but not thereafter. There was no pre-landing briefing conducted by the pilot-in-command. The flight engineer was able to see what appeared to be open water below with ice. The co-pilot set his radio altimeter warning to 450 ft and the pilot-in-command set his to 300 ft. When the warning light came on the co-pilot's radio altimeter, he advised the pilot-in-command. As the descent continued through the minimum descent altitude of 450 ft, the co-pilot reset his radio altimeter to 300 ft and so advised the pilot-in-command. The aircraft was still in a shallow descent. At 300 ft radio altitude the co-pilot checked the DME reading as 3 miles, saw a dark area of open water and an ice line and reported to the pilot-in-command that they seemed to be approaching an ice ridge and that they had visual contact. The pilot-in-command reset his radio altimeter to about 150 ft. Also, close to this time the pilot-in-command said he believed they were on top of a layer of cloud, repeated the statement, following which he retarded the throttles and pushed forward on the control column with sufficient force to produce perceptible negative G. The rate of descent increased rapidly to between 1700 and 2000 ft a minute. The co-pilot shouted at the pilot-in-command reporting their descent through 200 ft at 2 miles DME but there was no response. The flight engineer and the co-pilot both called through 50 ft without an observed reaction from the pilot-in-command. The co-pilot reached for the right side power levers and found the flight engineer's hands already on them. On impact, the cockpit area broke away from the remainder of the fuselage and with the cargo continued along the ice surface for 900 ft. After the cockpit came to rest, the flight engineer undid his seat belt and saw both the pilot-in-command and co-pilot in their seats. The co-pilot although injured was able to undo his seat belt and the flight engineer pulled him on to the ice before the cockpit section sank completely.

On final approach to Rankin Inlet, while completing a cargo flight from Thompson, the airplane went out of control and crashed. Both pilots were killed.

The aircraft, with two pilots and seven passengers on board was being flown from Stuttgart to Toronto via Shannon, Keflavik and Frobisher. The flight was routine as far as Keflavik. After startup at Keflavik the aircraft remained 18 minutes on the ground before takeoff. Departure was at 2131Z (27 February), and the flight was undertaken at FL390 against a 30 knot wind component, using a GNS-200 on-board navigation system. The aircraft navigation was satisfactory until 2352Z, 285 NM east of Frobisher (approximately 65° N 58° W). At this point the GNS-200 navigation system became unusable for 10 minutes due to a dropout of signals from the very low frequency ground stations on which it depended for operation. The aircraft has been tracked by a military radar network until it neared the Canadian coast. Near the coast the aircraft made a turn to the left of about 20°, but did not subsequently turn back to the right toward Frobisher, as might have been expected. Radar surveillance was not continued beyond that point. The Frobisher main, high power non-direction beacon (FY-206 Khz), went off the air at 0010Z and was restored to service at 0059Z. The standby transmitter failed to operate. At 0013Z, and ATC descent clearance was passed to the aircraft through Frobisher Aeradio; no information was included regarding the status of the radio navigation aids at Frobisher. At 0014Z, the clearance was acknowledged by the flight crew and a descent was commenced. At 0025Z, the flight radioed Frobisher that the radio beacons were not being received; then, that the DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) signals were not being received. The aircraft was at relatively low altitude by this time and lost radio contact with Frobisher. At approximately 0040Z, a small jet aircraft, believed to be CF-BRL, was observed to circle once at low altitude over the radio beacon at Brevoort Island, 120 NM east of Frobisher, and depart in the direction of Frobisher. At 0050Z, at the request of Frobisher Aeradio, an overflying airline jet contacted CF-BRL and learned it was at 4,500 feet (1,372 metres) asl. The pilots were 'lost' and asked whether Frobisher radio beacons were being received. Shortly thereafter, they reported receiving a Frobisher beacon (radio range station, FB 263 KHz, 400 watts) and altering course toward it. They sais they were low on fuel. At 0056Z, the pilot of CF-BRL announced 'both fuel lights are on and we are starting down from 4,500 feet'. The aircraft struck the side of a hill at 0058Z. The wreckage was found 120 km southeast of the destination airport. All nine occupants were killed.

Crashed in unknown circumstances 70 km east of Eureka, NWT. Both occupants were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Shortly after takeoff from Frobisher Bay Airport, while climbing, one of the engine lost power. The crew elected to return when the airplane stalled and crashed by the airport. All three occupants were slightly injured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. The aircraft was returning from a major overhaul in Toronto few days ago.

After the aircraft crossed the lake at low altitude, the pilot initiated a steep turn to the left to avoid 200 feet hill. Doing so, the left wing tip struck spruce trees and then the ground, causing the aircraft to cartwheel and to crash in flames. Three passengers were injured while a fourth passenger and the pilot were killed. The aircraft was destroyed.

While cruising in bad weather conditions, the single engine airplane struck the slope of a mountain located in Ram Plateau, in the region of Fort Smith. The occupant's fate remains unknown.

While approaching Frobisher Bay Airport by night, the twin engine aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances few km from the airfield. All three occupants were killed.