TSB Releasing Accident Report on 2016 Turboprop Crash
The investigation found the altitude and the speed of the aircraft's approach were higher than recommended. No mechanical deficiencies were found with the aircraft's engines, flight controls, landing gear, and navigation systems, and communications with the aircraft throughout the flight were normal.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) will hold a news conference Jan. 10 as it releases its investigation report (A16A0032) on the March 2016 fatal crash of a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 aircraft in Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, with seven people aboard. All of them died in the crash.
Kathy Fox, chair of the TSB, and Natacha Van Themsche, its director of air investigations, are the scheduled speakers at the news conference, which will be broadcast live on www.ustream.tv/channel/transportation-safety-board-of-canada.
TSB, like its U.S. counterpart, is an independent agency. TSB investigates marine, pipeline, railway, and aviation transportation occurrences; it does not assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.
TSB's webpage about the crash says the investigation found the altitude and the speed of the aircraft's approach to the Îles-de-la-Madeleine airport were higher than recommended. No mechanical deficiencies were found with the aircraft's engines, flight controls, landing gear, and navigation systems, and the communications with the aircraft throughout the flight were normal.
The agency reports that in October 2005, the FAA began a safety evaluation of the MU-2's accident history and as a result, in 2008, it issued a Special Federal Air Regulation (SFAR 108) that requires MU-2 pilots to complete a standardized training program and to use a standardized checklist. As of March 29, 2016, the date of the crash, this was the third fatal MU-2 accident since SFAR 108's implementation. The page says there are 263 MU-2 aircraft in service, 11 of them in Canada.