Incident Overview

Date: Monday 30 April 1990
Aircraft Type: Beechcraft C99 Commuter
Owner/operator: Frontier Air
Registration Number: C-GFAW
Location: 11 km ENE of Moosonee Airport, ON (YMO) – ÿ Canada
Phase of Flight: Approach
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4
Component Affected: Aircraft Flight Control System (specifically, the descent and landing gear).Aircraft Flight Control System (specifically, the descent and landing gear).
Investigating Agency: TSBTSB
Category: Accident
A Frontier Air Flight 1602 aircraft crashed due to a visual illusion caused by inadequate crew coordination, resulting in the aircraft striking trees during a descent to the 440-foot MDA. The pilot inadvertently flew the aircraft into trees due to a condition of visual illusion, exacerbated by the absence of approach lighting and company crew pairing policy.A Frontier Air Flight 1602 aircraft crashed due to a visual illusion caused by inadequate crew coordination, resulting in the aircraft striking trees during a descent to the 440-foot MDA. The pilot inadvertently flew the aircraft into trees due to a condition of visual illusion, exacerbated by the absence of approach lighting and company crew pairing policy.

Description

Frontier Air Flight 1602 took off from Timmins at 20:43 on a scheduled domestic flight to Moosonee. The flight proceeded to Moosonee at 7,000 feet and was cleared for an approach at 21:21. The crew elected to fly the VOR runway 24 approach. At 21:29, the crew reported on the 061-degree radial of the VOR at five nm outbound. Shortly after intercepting the 061-degree radial inbound, the crew initiated a descent to the 440-foot MDA. While in the descent, the aircraft broke through the lowest cloud layer at 900 feet asl, approximately 9.2 nm from the VOR At this point, both pilots had the runway lights in sight, and the captain decided to change to a visual approach and proceed inbound at 700 feet asl. Shortly after advising the co-pilot of his intentions, the captain initiated the before-landing cockpit check and lowered the landing gear. Immediately thereafter, the aircraft struck trees and crashed. CAUSES: “It was determined that the captain inadvertently flew the aircraft into trees, during a condition of visual illusion, as a result of inadequate crew coordination in that neither pilot effectively monitored the altimeter. Contributing to the occurrence were the absence of approach lighting, the lack of company crew pairing policy, the captain’s unfamiliarity with black-hole illusion and the seating position of the captain.”

Primary Cause

Inadequate crew coordination and the presence of visual illusion leading to a visual illusion.Inadequate crew coordination and the presence of visual illusion leading to a visual illusion.

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