Bearskin Airlines Flight 311

On 10 November 2013, a Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III operating as Bearskin Airlines Flight 311, a regional flight in Ontario, Canada, from Sioux Lookout Airport to Red Lake Airport, crashed just 800 metres from the runway of its destination airport killing five of the seven people on board. The cause of the accident was determined to be an engine failure, exacerbated by errors made by the crew, who were unable to identify the issue.

Flight

The aircraft was scheduled to fly from Thunder Bay, in Ontario, to Winnipeg, Manitoba with two stopovers in Sioux Lookout and Red Lake. The accident occurred on the Sioux Lookout-Red Lake leg of the flight. At 6:16 pm the aircraft was cleared to land on runway 26 at Red Lake, and at 6:27 the landing checklist was completed. Just one minute after the checklist, at about 500 feet above the ground, the crew reported an issue, that would be later identified as a failure of a first-stage turbine wheel blade in the left engine, but they weren't able to identify it. The crew declared an emergency, maximum power was applied to the engines, and the landing gear was retracted. The aircraft then suddenly rolled to the left and struck trees and hydro lines with its wing. The aircraft crashed near Ontario Highway 125 and caught fire. Of the seven occupants both crew members died along with three passengers, of the two survivors one suffered serious injuries, the other minor injuries. The two survivors left the wreckage of the aircraft before it was totally engulfed in flames. The fire was extinguished shortly after the crash by a local fire crew.