FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash

4 Jul 2011 · Pukatawagan Airport, Manitoba, Canada

Cessna 208 Caravan · Runway overrun after rejected takeoff

From Pukatawagan Airport (XPK) to The Pas/Grace Lake Airport, Manitoba, Canada

Report a problem

Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
9
Survivors
8
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
8
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Cessna 208 Caravan

Aircraft type
Cessna 208
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
C-FMCB
Onboard fatalities
1
Route
From Pukatawagan Airport (XPK)To The Pas/Grace Lake Airport, Manitoba, Canada

Cause areas

  • Environmental issues › Physical environment
  • Personnel issues › Task performance
  • Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
  • Personnel issues › Action/decision

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

On July 4, 2011, a Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 Caravan passenger aircraft with nine people on board crashed while attempting to take off from Pukatawagan Airport in Manitoba, Canada. One passenger was killed and the other eight occupants were injured.

History of the flight

At around 4PM local time on July 4, the Cessna Caravan was preparing to depart for the return leg of the hour-long daily scheduled flight from The Pas/Grace Lake Airport, Manitoba, to Pukatawagan Airport. On board were a single pilot and eight passengers. After lining up at the start of the 3000 ft gravel runway, the pilot applied full power and commenced take-off.

During the take-off run, the aircraft encountered several soft patches on the runway. The pilot realised that the airspeed had stopped increasing, and rejected the take-off with an estimated 600 ft of runway remaining. With reverse pitch selected but the engine at idle, the aircraft failed to stop before the end of the runway and rolled down a steep slope, coming to rest in a ravine. The airframe, including the fuel system, was severely damaged by the impact with the up-slope past the ravine, and a post-impact fire ensued almost immediately.

One passenger who was knocked unconscious in the impact could not be extricated from the wreckage and died of smoke inhalation. The pilot and the other seven passengers received minor injuries and were able to return to the terminal building.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

An investigation was carried out by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The final report was released in June 2012 and found that several factors combined to prevent the aircraft from attaining take-off airspeed, including the soft conditions of the gravel runway following recent rain, the take-off technique adopted by the pilot, which may have caused an increase in the aerodynamic drag, and likely gusty wind conditions.

It was also determined that although the pilot's decision to reject the takeoff was reasonable, it was made at a point from which insufficient runway remained to bring the aircraft to a stop without resulting in a runway excursion. Contributing to the only fatality was that the deceased passenger was not wearing the available shoulder harness, which could have limited the extent of his injuries and the risk of loss of consciousness while the fire was engulfing the wreckage.

As a result of the investigation, Missinippi Airways implemented a new short-field take-off procedure and committed to put greater emphasis on short/soft field take-off and landing training.

Text from the Wikipedia article “2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash” (revision 1364275344, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash
Article
2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash
Revision
1364275344 · 2026-07-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q5493210
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash" (page 32320663, revision 1364275344)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an airline in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.