Hesquiat Lake - Gold River

On August 16, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Hesquiat Lake - Gold River experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, operated by Air Nootka, with the event recorded near Hesquiat Lake British Columbia.

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

6 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 4 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 33.3%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 5, passenger fatalities: 2, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. At 1015 Pacific Daylight Time, the de Havilland DHC-2 (Beaver) floatplane (registration CGPVB, serial number 871), operated by Air Nootka Ltd., departed Hesquiat Lake, British Columbia, with the pilot and 5 passengers for Air Nootka Ltd.’s water aerodrome base near Gold River, British Columbia. Visibility at Hesquiat Lake was about 2 ½ nautical miles in rain, and the cloud ceiling was about 400 feet above lake and sea level. Approximately 3 nautical miles west of the lake, while over Hesquiat Peninsula, the aircraft struck a tree top at about 800 feet above sea level and crashed. Shortly after the aircraft came to rest, a post-crash fire developed. All 6 persons on board survived the impact, but the pilot and 1 passenger died shortly after. A brief 406 megahertz emergency locator transmitter signal was transmitted, and a search and rescue helicopter recovered the survivors at about 1600.

Aircraft reference details include registration C-GPVB, MSN 871, year of manufacture 1956.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 49.4972°, -126.3970°.