2016 Magdalen Islands Mitsubishi MU-2 crash
Aero Teknic Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 · Crashed following unstabilized approach
From Montréal / Saint-Hubert Metropolitan Airport (YHU) to Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport (YGR)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16RA136
- 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
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 7 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 7
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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
- Unknown
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Mitsubishi MU-2B-60
- Aircraft type
- Mitsubishi MU-2
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- N246W
- Operator
- Aero Teknic
- Onboard fatalities
- 7
- Route
- From Montréal / Saint-Hubert Metropolitan Airport (YHU)To Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport (YGR)
- Aircraft age
- About 34 years (built 1982)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · IFR final approach
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
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 29 March 2016, a Mitsubishi MU-2 operated by Aero Teknic, a Canadian aircraft maintenance company, crashed on approach to Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport, killing former Canadian politician Jean Lapierre, four members of his family, and the two pilots. Lapierre was flying to his father's funeral with his wife and three siblings. One passenger initially survived the crash, but died of a heart attack after being pulled from the wreckage.
Accident
Before departure, Jean Lapierre mentioned that he was concerned about flying during bad weather. The aircraft left Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport in Saint-Hubert, Quebec at 0931 Eastern Daylight Time and was headed to Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport, on Havre-aux-Maisons island in the Magdalen Islands in Quebec. A little over two hours later, at 1230 Atlantic Daylight Time, the aircraft collided with terrain in Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, about 1.4 nmi short of the threshold of runway 07.
At the time of the accident, there was light rain and mist. The visibility was 2 mi with a cloud ceiling of 200 ft. The air temperature was 0 C with east-northeast winds at 18 kn per hour, gusting to 24 kn.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) opened an investigation and sent a group of investigators to the site.
According to the preliminary observations found by the investigators, the aircraft was in a slightly left-wing-low-and-nose-high attitude on impact. The wreckage was contained in a field 150 m2 about 2 km southwest of Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport; the aircraft had hit the ground and slid for 91 m before coming to a stop. Examination of the wreckage showed the engines were running until the impact with the ground. The MU-2 was not fitted with flight recorders (which are not required for light aircraft), but a different type of onboard recording device was installed and it appeared to be intact. The wreckage was removed from the crash site and transported to the TSB's laboratory in Ottawa on April 6. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sent a representative to the American-built plane's crash site. Mitsubishi also sent investigators to the site.
Causes
On 10 January 2018, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released their final report in which they stated that the accident was caused by the pilot's inability to maintain a stable landing approach. The pilot increased power at low altitude with low airspeed, but lost control, and the plane rolled right and descended rapidly. The pilot was able to level the wings, but his actions were too late to prevent impact with the ground.
The investigation also found the pilot's high workload to be a contributing factor. It concluded that the high workload decreased his situational awareness and hindered the decision-making process. Furthermore, the investigation found it probable that the pilot's flight skills and procedures were insufficient for the pilot in command of operations on the aircraft type, especially in a situation similar to that experienced in this accident.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2016 Magdalen Islands Mitsubishi MU-2 crash” (revision 1373624741, 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: 2016 Magdalen Islands Mitsubishi MU-2 crash
- Revision
- 1373624741 · 2026-09-07 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q23663932
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record CEN16RA136
- Event ID
- 20160329X62124
- Case number
- CEN16RA136
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2016 Magdalen Islands Mitsubishi MU-2 crash" (page 49988873, revision 1373624741); merged with NTSB case CEN16RA136 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: 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); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record CEN16RA136
- Operation
- not stated in the Wikipedia article's infobox or opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2016 Magdalen Islands Mitsubishi MU-2 crash" and NTSB case CEN16RA136, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.