RégionnAir

Beechcraft 1900D

The RégionnAir flight took off from Port-Menier at 23:34 for an IFR flight to Seven Islands. The crew decided to carry out a straight-in GPS approach to runway 31. However, there is no published GPS approach for that runway. The descent from cruise flight into the airport was started late, and the aircraft was high and fast during the approach phase to the NDB. From an altitude of 10 000 feet at 9 nm from the NDB, the rate of descent generally exceeded 3000 fpm. The aircraft crossed the beacon at 600 feet asl. For the last 30 seconds of flight and from approximately 3 nm from the threshold, the aircraft descended steadily at approximately 850 fpm, at 140 to 150 knots indicated airspeed, with full flaps extended. The captain coached the first officer throughout the descent and called out altitudes and distances. The GPWS "Minimums" activation sounded, consistent with the decision height selection of 100 feet, to which the captain responded with directions to continue a slow descent. The last call was at 30 feet, 1.2 seconds before impact. Eight seconds before impact, the GPWS voice message "Minimums, Minimums" activated. The aircraft continued to descend and struck trees in a near-level attitude, in an area of rising terrain. A post-crash fire destroyed the wings, the right engine, and the right midside of the fuselage. The cabin area remained relatively intact, but the cockpit area separated and was crushed during the impact sequence. The Beechcraft in question was a brand new aircraft, registered just 2 months earlier. This accident was RégionnAir's second Beech 1900 loss in 1999; on January 4 an accident happened on approach to St. Augustin River. No one received fatal injuries in that accident however.

Beechcraft 1900C

The Régionnair Inc. Beechcraft 1900C, serial number UC-85, with two pilots and 10 passengers on board, was making an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight between Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon, Quebec, and Saint-Augustin, Quebec. Just before initiation of descent, the radiotelephone operator of the Saint-Augustin Airport UNICOM (private advisory service) station informed the crew that the ceiling was 300 feet, visibility a quarter of a mile in snow flurries, and the winds from the southeast at 15 knots gusting to 20 knots. The crew made the LOC/DME (localizer transmitter / distance-measuring equipment) non-precision approach for runway 20. The approach proceeded normally until the minimum descent altitude (MDA). When the first officer reported sighting the ground beneath the aircraft, the captain decided to continue descending below the MDA. Thirty-five seconds later, the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) [email protected] audible alarm sounded. Three seconds later, the aircraft flew into the frozen surface of the Saint-Augustin River. The occupants escaped the accident unharmed. The aircraft was heavily damaged.