Georgian Express Flight 126

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Georgian Express Flight 126
Cessna 208B SKS (105090285) .jpg

A machine of the type Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control due to icing and overloading
place Lake Erie , 3 km northwest of Pelee Island Airport , CanadaCanadaCanada 
date January 17, 2004
Fatalities 10
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
operator CanadaCanada Georgian Express
Mark CanadaCanada C-FAGA
Departure airport Pelee Island Airport , Pelee , Ontario , CanadaCanadaCanada 
Destination airport Windsor International Airport , Ontario , CanadaCanadaCanada 
Passengers 9
crew 1
Lists of aviation accidents

The Georgian Express flight 126 (flight number IATA : ZX126 , ICAO : GGN126 , radio call sign: GEORGIAN 126 ) was a scheduled domestic flight of the Canadian Georgian Express . It was a flight connection within the province of Ontario , which led from Pelee Island in Lake Erie to Windsor . On January 17, 2004, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan crashed on this flight shortly after take-off due to icing and overloading, killing all ten people on board.

plane

The machine was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan built in 1998 with the serial number 208B0658 , which was registered with the Georgian Express with the aircraft registration C-FAGA . The single-engine commuter aircraft was equipped with a turboprop engine of the type Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A equipped with 505 kW (675 hp), which with a three-bladed, adjustable Hartzell was equipped -propeller. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed a total of 7,809 operating hours.

Inmates

The flight from Pelee to Windsor had taken nine passengers. A pilot was the only crew member on board. The pilot in charge had been flying for the Georgian Express since November 2000, initially with Beechcraft 1900 aircraft , and was then qualified for the Cessna 208 by November 30, 2003. The pilot had 3,465 hours of flight experience, 957 hours of which with the Cessna 208.

Purpose of flight

The passenger service between Windsor and Pelee is usually served by a ferry service from the Owen Sound Transportation Company (OSTC). For the winter months in which Lake Erie is frozen, the company puts out contracts to external service providers for flight connections. The Georgian Express was awarded the contract on December 13, 2003 for the 2003/04 winter season.

the accident

At 3:23 p.m., the aircraft was refueled at Windsor Airport for flight GGN125 to Pelee. The machine was de-iced at 3:55 p.m. and started ten minutes later. The landing at Pelee Airport followed at 4:20 p.m. At the ramp, two people expressed concern to the pilot that there was ice on the wing. At this point it was snowing. The pilot was observed to inspect the leading edge of the wing but raised no concerns and proceeded to board the passengers and load cargo. At about 4:38 p.m. the machine took off with its destination Windsor. After the Cessna needed a large part of the runway length of 1006 meters for the take-off run, it rose into the air at a very shallow angle. When the pilot pulled in the buoyancy aids over Lake Erie , it stalled . Since the machine was making a right turn at this point, the stall occurred first on the left wing. The nose of the aircraft dropped and the Cessna rolled to the left, eventually hitting the ice, killing all ten occupants.

root cause

It was found that the machine was overloaded by 576 kg, about 15 percent, when it took off from Pelee Island. The maximum take-off weight was 3878 kg.

Due to the low altitude, the pilot was no longer able to catch the machine from the stall.

The pilot's lack of awareness of the dangers arising from the overloading of the aircraft, the icy wings and the weather conditions was not compatible with his general good reputation. It has been suggested that his decision to perform the launch in these conditions likely resulted from a combination of stress and fatigue.

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