Montreal - Churchill Falls

On December 9, 1977 at 07:55 PM, Montreal - Churchill Falls experienced a crash involving BAe 125, operated by Churchill Falls Corporation, with the event recorded near Churchill Falls Newfoundland & Labrador.

The flight was categorized as executive/corporate/business and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 8 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 6, passenger fatalities: 6, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The corporate jet HS-125 aircraft departed Montreal at 2123 (GMT), 9 December 1977 with Churchill Falls as destination. The estimated time en route was 1 hour 45 minutes. The flight proceeded normally and was in contact with Air Traffic Services en route. When in range of Churchill Falls the flight received a clearance for the approach from Moncton ATC. At 2228Z the pilot acknowledged the clearance to the Churchill Falls airport and received the latest weather. The aircraft left cruising altitude shortly thereafter; the descent was normal to the minimum initial altitude for the instrument approach. The flight reported outbound to Churchill Falls advisory at approximately 2252Z. The final transmission from the crew was that they were two miles back on final with a confirmation that they could see the strobe lights and the VASIS. Moncton Centre was alerted shortly after 2300Z when it was evident that the aircraft had not landed. A local search was initiated with two helicopters from the airport but because of deteriorating weather, the search had to be discontinued and the aircraft was not found that night. Search and Rescue were alerted at 2314Z. Near blizzard conditions occurred that night and the next day, December 10. It wasn't until 11 December that the air search was resumed and the aircraft was located two miles short of the threshold of runway 14. There was no sign of life.

Aircraft reference details include registration C-FCFL, MSN 25213, year of manufacture 1970.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 53.5945°, -64.3077°.