737 reported down in Canada
 

First Air 737 reported down in Canada, operating out of Yellowknife. Unconfirmed.

Plane From Yellowknife To Resolute Bay Crashes In Far North

A 737 passenger jet crashed Saturday near Resolute Bay, Nunavut, in Canada's High Arctic, killing 12 people and injuring three others on board.

Nunavut RCMP have confirmed First Air charter flight 6560 was travelling from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay with 15 people on board, including four crew members, the CBC's Patricia Bell reported from Iqaluit.

The RCMP said in a release it "was made aware of the possibility of some survivors." A flight list was not immediately available.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in CFB Trenton says helicopters and medical personnel are now at the site.

Hundreds of military personnel are currently in the area for Operation Nanook. But the co-ordination centre says that the incident was not a part of a simulation exercise planned for the military operation.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to travel to Resolute Bay on Monday for his annual trip to the Arctic.

Plane crash near Resolute Bay kills 12 - North - CBC News

From Canadian Forces website

Quote:

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Operation NANOOK 11

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Edited following the above post. The coincidence is ironic, but hopefully helpful to any survivors.

The simulated disaster, I believe, is an unfortunate coincidence.

One of the posters on here seems to have quoted someone who was in Resolute when the accident happened.

It is a very sad day here in Yellowknife.

I'm sure I have seen these folks while passing on the ramp maybe even said hello. It is a small/tight aviation community here in Yellowknife and in Canada's Arctic.

A photo of the accident posted by a member of avcanada.ca

http://p.twimg.com/AXUGmY0CMAAPmQb.jpg

Nunavut town reeling after plane crash kills 12 - The Globe and Mail


Aircraft registration reportedly C-GNWN msn# 21067 in service initially with Wien Air Alaska in 8/1975.

Too early to say, but my thoughts for what it's worth.

The airfield has an ILS on RW 35 but the wind was from the south at 10 knots or more. The runway is just over 1900 m long.

Crash position was to the south east of the airport.

This suggests to me an ILS approach to RW 35 (with a tailwind), followed by breaking right for a left hand downwind pattern to land on RW17. The left hand pattern would have favoured the circle to land being flown from the left hand seat which is what one would expect when flying in challenging conditions.

Don't know what the circling minimums for Resolute Bay are, but the cloud base at the time was pretty low......

Low Vis and Non ILS App
 

My condolences to all those families.




TAF CYRB 210538Z 2106/2206 VRB03KT 1/2SM -DZ FG VV001 TEMPO 2106/2113
2SM BR SCT001 OVC006 FM211300 VRB03KT P6SM SCT005 OVC015 TEMPO
2113/2118 2SM BR BKN005 OVC015 FM211800 11010KT P6SM SCT015 BKN030
TEMPO 2118/2203 4SM -DZ BR BKN015 OVC030 BECMG 2201/2203 11015G25KT
FM220300 11015G25KT P6SM SCT004 BKN015 OVC030 TEMPO 2203/2206 2SM -DZ
BR OVC006 PROB30 2203/2206 1/2SM FG OVC002 RMK NXT FCST BY 211200Z=


SPECI CYRB 210710Z 31003KT 5/8SM BR OVC002 RMK FG3ST5=
SPECI CYRB 210710Z CCA 31003KT 1/2SM FG OVC002 RMK FG3ST5=
METAR CYRB 210700Z 31003KT 4SM -DZ BR OVC002 04/04 A2998 RMK ST8
SLP159=
SPECI CYRB 210612Z 29002KT 4SM -DZ BR OVC002 RMK ST8 VIS W 15=
METAR CYRB 210600Z 00000KT 1/2SM R35/5500FT -DZ FG VV001 04/04 A2997
RMK FG8 SLP155=
SPECI CYRB 210528Z 26003KT 1/2SM R35/4500FT -DZ FG VV001 RMK FG8=
SPECI CYRB 210517Z 00000KT 1/2SM R35/4500FT -DZ FG OVC002 RMK FG5ST3=

SPECI CYRB 210502Z 29003KT 1/2SM R35/3000FT -DZ FG VV001 RMK FG8=
METAR CYRB 210500Z 29003KT 0SM R35/2400FT -DZ FG VV001 04/04 A2996
RMK FG8 SLP151=

Aldente:

Quote:

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The airfield has an ILS on RW 35 but the wind was from the south at 10 knots or more. The runway is just over 1900 m long.

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Perhaps they flew this IAP:

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...pster/11-2.jpg

That hill is only just over 430' high and they hit below the top, below back-course DA and well below circling:confused:.

(AVHerald)

So it looks almost like the 732' hill.

aterpster

My knowledge of the geography of the area is not good but news reports say the aircraft came down near the settlement of Resolute Bay. Looking on Google maps satellite view confirms that this small town is to the south east of the airfield / runway. In that case, seems unlikely that they would have been flying the ILS back course procedure for RW17.

Further information taken from the The Aviation Herald website :-

The crash site is located less than 2km west of Resolute Bay Community in rugged terrain.

A listener on frequency reported the crew of C-GNWN had called 3nm final for runway 35T, which proved to be their last radio transmission. Temporary Tower tried to raise them without success. Another aircraft was on approach to runway 17T and went around because of fog, they were asked by tower whether they could see anything. During their second approach the fog lifted and the crew of that aircraft was able to see a debris field and black smoke at the top of a hill


CYRB 201900Z 15008KT 8SM VCFG OVC006 07/06 A2985 RMK SC7 VIS N-E 3 FG TOP OF HILL SLP113
CYRB 201800Z 19008KT 10SM VCFG SCT003 OVC010 07/07 A2983 RMK SF3ST5 SLP108
CYRB 201700Z CCA 20007KT 10SM VCFG SCT002 OVC009 07/06 A2982 RMK SF2ST6 SLP105
CYRB 201649Z 18013KT 5SM -DZ BR OVC003 RMK ST8
CYRB 201600Z 18008KT 10SM -DZ OVC007 06/06 A2981 RMK ST8 SLP100
CYRB 201533Z 17008KT 5SM -DZ BR OVC006 RMK ST8
CYRB 201500Z 18016KT 1/2SM R35/2200FT -DZ FG VV002 06/06 A2979 RMK FG8 SLP095
CYRB 201450Z 17013KT 5/8SM -DZ BR VV002 RMK FG8
CYRB 201434Z 17016KT 15SM -DZ OVC005 RMK ST8
CYRB 201400Z 16014KT 15SM BKN009 OVC070 07/06 A2979 RMK SF4AC4 SLP094


As said previously, not great circling weather IF that's what they were trying to do......

First Air released a rather cool statement to this worst accident in their history today:
First Air confirms accident

The actual source of Aldente's posted information seems to be The Airline Website, but they don't appear to have been credited for it. The full post is below. Nothing to determine whether it's credible data, but with that caveat:

"I was there. They called 3 miles final RW35T then nothing. The temporary tower tried to raise them. A Borek B99 was on approach to RW17T on the Back Course, planning to land after the 737. The B99 missed its approach on 17 (fog) and was asked by the temp tower "if they could see anything". Just after they tried a second approach, the fog lifted a bit and the top of the hill in the distance started becoming visible, with black smoke and eventually flames and a debris field coming into view.

"Something I had hoped I would never see in my lifetime. If it hadn't been for the military presence, a response would have taken many hours if not days. Reports of 3 survivors means I and our crew may have witnessed a miracle."

Survivors
 

Reported that 3 of 15 aboard survived - two stewardesses and a seven year old girl.
All flown to hospital in Iqualuit by C-17. One stewardess reported to be in critical condition.

NOTAM
 

Jetplan shows following NOTAM for CYRB, also VASIS U/S on Rnwy 17

CYRB APT 20110813ABAV01 110122 WIE /11 22AUG2359
CYRB ILS 35 UNSERVICEABLE
TIL 1108222359

The FAA does the same thing following a crash where NAVAIDs could have been involved. They typically send a flight check aircraft to survey the approach before returning it to operational status. Results of the flight check are also forwarded to the NTSB for their investigation. I would expect Canadian procedures to be similar.

When is somebody going to design and build a modern jet airliner with gravel runway capability?

The B737-200 equipped with Boeing gravel kit is the only viable choice for gravel runway operations at frontier airports such as Resolute Bay...

Up to now there are no facts that supports a runway mishap. It looks more like a CFIT, so what does a gravel kit (or not) have to do with this accident?

The crash print shows some similitude with what was seen in Tripoli.

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviatio.../1/1881102.jpg

I don't think Twochai is suggesting the gravel kit is relevant to the accident, I think he's suggesting that better navigation capability, on a more modern aircraft, might have helped - but that the airline uses the old 737s because they have the gravel kit.

Based on info on AvHearld it appears to be a circle to land from the ILS 35 to land Runway 17.

These are the topo data with CAT C and D TERPs CTL protected airspace.
The "X" marks the approximate impact point followed by the dashed line representing the break-up path.

(following that graphic is the Jepp chart for the ILS 35.)

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...er/CYRBCTL.jpg


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...pster/11-1.jpg

aterpster- Jepp appear to disagree on terrain elevation - or is the 653 the lump between Cat C and D??

Where did you get the graphic of impact/track from? CNN now reporting the crash was 8km from the airport. Picture in post #8 certainly does not look like 8km..

Seems odd if true that they would choose the ILS 35T with a circling for 17T. The straight in 17T LOC appch has decent limits.

BOAC:

The red obstacle mark between Cat C and just north of the village. I believe that is what you are looking at.

From AvHerald. The first report about 8 km was an incorrect report. The Av Herald site shows people standing at the airport looking at the smoldering wreackage on the hills.

Interestingly enough, the smoke trail in photo [post-8] shows more of a tame crosswind, so ILS Rwy-35T would have been manageable. No need to circle to 17 with the low cloud deck.

The picture is looking to the east and shows a southerly wind. The hill is to the right of runway 35 and has the VOR/DME on it, 1 mile from the airport.

Nothing at all - except that more modern aircraft have much improved instrumentation, nav gear and autopilots, as Aterpster pointed out.

It's a very serious issue for those operators north of 60. Boeing still charges outrageous amounts for the paperwork to modify a 737-200 for gravel kit installation, even if the hardware is available. The razor thin margins of northern operation (very high fuel and maintenance costs, comparatively long stagelengths and low utilisation) make the economics marginal, at best.

But unfortunately, the 732 is the only game in town.

Deep condolences to the familes of those lost. Very sad day for aviation in Canada, and those doing northern flying.

I suspect, but do not know, that the aircraft's DFDR will have only basic (minimum legal) parameters with which to investigate this sad accident.

The relevant CARS governing the number, type, resolution and sampling rates of required parameters required for aircraft of various type certificate and manufacture dates is available here. Registry details for the aircraft can be found using this Transport Canada page. "Mark" is the registry of the aircraft, in this case, C-GNWN.

downnorth:

Any loss of life of innocents is always sad, not just in our vocation.

My wife and I recently enjoyed the TV series about Buffalo Air, or such.

I have a question for you: why do these remote Arctic locations have to have gravel strips? Is it economics?

Seems like a paved strip would open that airport up to modern, perhaps smaller jet airplanes. Seems like a state-of-the-art, dense seating Gulfstream jet would make a lot more sense if the pax load is typically small.

The ground shifts due to permafrost. Pavement would crack annually,

I really don't see how the type of aircraft has ANY bearing on this accident.

I am quite sure this was a cargo charter that also carried passengers. I doubt a smaller aircraft, or more modern aircraft, would have made any difference here.

Maintaining a paved runway on permafrost is quite difficult due to frost heaves. It's easier to maintain a gravel strip, particularly for only occasional use. Resolute is a community of only about 200 people, but is the jumping-off point for any northern exploration, so they do get more flights than the size of the community implies.

Keep in mind also that this flight was a cargo charter using a 737 combi. As such, it could have had as few as 12 seats in it, depending on the number of pallets they were carrying on the main deck.

First Air's scheduled flights into Resolute are performed using an ATR 42 or 72. They can also be set up for various amounts of freight. This airline is the lifeline into these northern communities, since they are frozen in during much of the winter, and can only get supplies by air.

GPWS? EGPWS?

This aircraft had GPWS.

With the gear down, and flaps in the landing configuration, only the pilots can keep the aircraft from hitting high ground.

If the gear and flaps are in the landing config the GPWS would not sound - further more the rad alt does not give call outs.

Survivors?
 

Roger on three survivors. I've read that one is a middle aged man, one a young girl, serious condition, both evacuated for hospital treatment down sounth. The third, a woman, is being treated at Resolute.