Snegamook Lake - Goose Bay

On March 24, 1986 at 09:55 AM, Snegamook Lake - Goose Bay experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-3 Otter, operated by Goose Bay Air Services, with the event recorded near Goose Bay Newfoundland & Labrador.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 4 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 80.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 4, passenger fatalities: 3, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. A wheel/ski-equipped DHC-3 Otter aircraft was on the return leg of a charter flight to Snegamook Lake to retrieve a hunting party of four, along with their hunting gear and bounty of several hundred ptarmigan. It departed Snegamook Lake at 09:15. After takeoff, the engine began to run rough but improved somewhat when the power was reduced for cruising. As the aircraft was approaching Nipishish Lake, the pilot reported to company dispatch that the engine was again running rough, but he was able to maintain altitude, and he would follow the Crooked River toward Goose Bay in case a precautionary landing became necessary. Three minutes later, C-FAGM called dispatch again, advising them that he was intending to land on a large area on the Crooked River. He also indicated that there was an odour of smoke in the aircraft. The aircraft was in a nose-down, left- bank attitude, with the flaps fully extended and the skis retracted when it struck the frozen surface of the river. The Otter bounced clear of the surface, turned left came to rest in an upright position.

Aircraft reference details include registration C-FAGM, MSN 400, year of manufacture 1961.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 48.3653°, -53.3808°.