Payne Bay – Fort Chimo

On January 13, 1963 at 12:00 AM, Payne Bay – Fort Chimo experienced a crash involving Noorduyn Norseman, operated by Wheeler Airlines, with the event recorded near Kuujjuaq (ex Fort Chimo) Quebec.

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

8 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 7, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. On a flight from Payne Bay to Fort Chimo, weather conditions worsened and the pilot elected to make an emergency landing when the airplane crashed 100 km south of Fort Chimo and came to rest upside down in snow. The pilot and two passengers were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. Despite the situation, the pilot and a passenger decided to leave the crash site and to walk to Fort Chimo where they arrived two weeks later on January 27. SAR teams were immediately dispatched to the crash site where the six remaining occupants were evacuated.

Aircraft reference details include registration CF-GSJ, MSN N29-46, year of manufacture 1950.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 58.1128°, -68.3867°.