Canadian Vickers PBV-1 Canso (OA-10 Canso)

Airborne Fire Attack

After touching down to scoop another load of water, the pilot added power and the aircraft pitched forward. The pilot heard a pop and felt a sudden decelerative force. When the nose began to bowsuck, he applied more back pressure but the aircraft did not respond. The floor split open and water began rushing into the cockpit. The left nose gear door locking pin was found separated from its hydraulic actuator. It displayed a bend that corresponded to its retracted position in the pin guide. The deformation prevented investigators from reinserting the damaged pin back through the guide. The left mycarta block remained attached to the door and did not exhibit any damage.

Government of Quebec

The crew was completing a training mission at Lac-Caché, consisting of touch-and-go and scooping maneuvers. For unknown reasons, the seaplane landed hard, overturned and sank. One pilot was killed and the second was injured.

The Flying Fireman

After takeoff from Thunder Bay, while climbing, the right engine failed while the left engine lost power. The aircraft descended, struck obstacles and eventually crashed in a prairie. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

Aeroservicio Parragué - ASPAR

The crew was engaged in a fire fighting mission under callsign 'Canso 31'. While approaching the fire zone at low height and ready to drop 5,000 liters of water, the airplane struck a pine tree with its left wing. Out of control, it crashed in a garden located in the district of Manquimávida, northeast of Chiguayante. Both pilots were killed instantly while the third occupant was seriously injured. He died while being transferred to the hospital. Crew: Carlos Paris Maldonado, pilot, Rolf Taucher, copilot, Jaime López Morales, observer.

The Flying Fireman

The crew was flying at low altitude while completing a firefighting mission when the right engine partially failed. The airplane lost height and crashed, killing both occupants.

Norcanair - North Canada Air

The Canso departed Hay River with two pilots on a firefighting mission in the region of Pine Point. While flying at low height, circling around the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in the same area, the Canso collided with a Field Aviation Catalina registered CF-HTN. Two pilots were on board the Catalina and were also engaged in a firefighting mission. Following the collision, both aircraft crashed and were destroyed, killing all four crew members.

Barringer Research

The crew (pilots and technicians) were engaged in a local test flight consisting of an electric equipment post maintenance check. After liftoff, while in initial climb, the seaplane encountered difficulties to gain height, stalled and crashed in flames in an open field. Both pilots were killed while three other occupants were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Royal Danish Air Force - Flyvevåbnet

The seaplane aircraft departed Værløse AFB on a training flight with three passengers and a crew of five on board. After completing landings into the sea off Gilleleje, the crew prepared for a second landing when the airplane struck the water surface in a nose-down attitude, plunged into the sea and sank by a depth of 12 meters, some 4,6 km offshore. A crew member was killed while seven other occupants were rescued.

Cruzeiro do Sul

Upon landing on the Rio Purus off Canutama, the seaplane was apparently in a wrong attitude, nosed down and came to rest partially submerged. Four passengers were killed while 10 other occupants were rescued.

The Flying Fireman

The crew was called at 1630LT for a forest fire that erupted on Skirt mountain near Victoria. The crew first made a scooping mission on the Saanich Inlet with more than 1,000 gallons of water. About an hour later, while flying at low height, the left wing of Tanker 772 struck a tree and the airplane crashed. Both pilots were killed, Alex Davidson (founder of The Flying Fireman) and Robert 'Paddy' Moore. The mission was completed on behalf of the BC Forest Service.