Montreal – Hall Beach

On November 4, 1959 at 11:07 PM, Montreal – Hall Beach experienced a crash involving Douglas C-54 Skymaster, operated by Wheeler Airlines, with the event recorded near Saint-Cléophas-de-Brandon Quebec.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Flight 1658 took off from Montreal-Dorval runway 10 at 2244LT on a cargo flight to Hall Beach, NWT. Following takeoff the aircraft continued runway heading and climbed to 6,000 feet. Course was then changed and the aircraft climbed to the assigned altitude of 9,000 feet, reaching this altitude at 2259LT. Some 3 and a half minutes later the crew reported that they were in an emergency descent because of a no. 2 engine fire. Last radio contact was at 2307LT when the crew reported that the plane had lost its left wing and "was in a spin and going straight in". The DC-4 broke up in midair, causing wreckage to cover a 1,25 x 0,75 mile area. All five crew members were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CF-ILI, MSN 10360, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 46.2288°, -73.4081°.