Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 6 November 1943
Aircraft Type: Canadian Vickers PBV-1A Canso A (PBY-5A)
Owner/operator: Royal Canadian Air Force – RCAF
Registration Number: 9834
Location: Botwood, NL – ÿ Canada
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 12
Component Affected: Aircraft nosewheel and pilot/navigator compartments.Aircraft nosewheel and pilot/navigator compartments.
Category: Accident
A Canso amphibian aircraft crashed and sank immediately during its return flight to Torbay. Five occupants survived, with five others missing and presumed deceased. An investigation suggests excessive speed may have contributed to a water-loop formation, potentially leading to a nosewheel breach and subsequent flooding of the aircraft’s compartments.A Canso amphibian aircraft crashed and sank immediately during its return flight to Torbay. Five occupants survived, with five others missing and presumed deceased. An investigation suggests excessive speed may have contributed to a water-loop formation, potentially leading to a nosewheel breach and subsequent flooding of the aircraft’s compartments.

Description

The Canso amphibian departed on a transportation flight to Torbay. On its return at 21:55, while landing, it crashed and sank immediately. From the 12 occupants of the aircraft, five survived, having been only slightly injured. All the others are missing and presumed to have been killed. CAUSE: Although the cause must remain obscure, it is indicated by the evidence that the aircraft may have touched down at a slightly excessive speed for the load condition therefore permitting a water-loop to develop with the possibility of wrenching the nosewheel door thus permitting a sudden surge of water into the nosewheel tank which in turn could burst through into the pilot’s compartment and the navigator’s compartment, thereby causing a very sudden flooding of the whole forward portion of the aircraft.

Source of Information

http://www.wwiicdnwomensproject.org/air_force/Irene-Watson.html, http://rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_9801_9844_detailed.htmlhttp://www.wwiicdnwomensproject.org/air_force/Irene-Watson.html, http://rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_9801_9844_detailed.html

Primary Cause

Excessive speed during landing, potentially leading to a water-loop formation.Excessive speed during landing, potentially leading to a water-loop formation.

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