Wapiti Aviation Flight 402

Wapiti Aviation Flight 402 was a scheduled passenger flight from Edmonton Municipal Airport to Peace River Airport in Alberta, Canada on 19 October 1984. On approach to their stopover at High Prairie Airport, the plane had a controlled descent into terrain as a result of pilot error, crashing 40 km southeast of the town of High Prairie in a remote area of forest, killing 6 of the 10 people on board. Among the passengers killed was Grant Notley, leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party and father of future premier Rachel Notley.

Accident

The aircraft arrived at Edmonton Municipal Airport from Grande Prairie Airport at 6:15 PM MST. The pilot was briefed on the weather, and before departing informed passengers that they may not be able to land at their planned stopover in High Prairie due to the weather. He then boarded all passengers, including those bound for High Prairie, and departed 30 minutes behind schedule at 7:10 PM. While climbing, ATC cleared Wapiti Flight 402 to maintain 2400 m before requesting and maintaining 2600 m in order to stay above the clouds due to the pilot's concern of potential icing. While above the Swan Hills NDB, the pilot requested a descent and direct routing to High Prairie Airport. ATC cleared the aircraft to descend to 2100 m and proceed direct to High Prairie. After receiving this clearance and passing the Swan Hills NDB, the pilot began to descend at a rate of 91 m per minute while travelling at 270 km per hour, entering cloud and continuing to descend past the cleared altitude of 2100 m to 868 m where, before the pilot planned to level the aircraft it struck the treeline and crashed at 8:04 PM. The pilot had falsely believed that the Swan Hills NDB was located at the summit of the Swan Hills and that he had flown past the area of high terrain. Instead, the NDB was actually located at the Swan Hills Airport, and the terrain continued to rise for a further 30 km in the northwest direction of the plane's intended descent. The plane impacted with both landing gear and flaps up, after striking the trees the right wing was partially torn off before the aircraft landed in a grove of poplars, rolling 90 degrees before coming to a rest in the thick snow. Of the 6 fatalities, four were caused by the upper fuselage's contact with the ground, and two were caused by head and chest trauma resulting from the impact of the crash. Those killed in the crash were Elaine Noskiye, Pat Blakovits, Chris Vince, Gordon Peever, Terry Swanson and Grant Notley.