Sowind Air Flight 301

On December 9, 1997, Sowind Air Flight 301, an Embraer EMB 110P1 Bandeirante operating a regional flight in Manitoba, Canada, from Winnipeg/St. Andrews Airport to Little Grand Rapids Airport, crashed on approach to its destination, killing four of the 17 people on board and injuring the survivors. An investigation into the accident found out that the aircraft was being flown below the minimum safe altitude for the area, so, when the crew made a turn and descended, it impacted terrain. The presence of fog in the area, and the overloading of the aircraft were also contributing factors.

Flight

At 2:15 pm local time the aircraft departed, with 15 passengers and two crew members on board, from Winnipeg/St. Andrews Airport for a 40 minutes VFR flight to Little Grand Rapids Airport. The flight went uneventful until approach when, in fog and low cloud ceiling conditions, the radio airport manager in Little Grand Rapids informed the crew of Flight 301 that he did not have their aircraft in sight, so the pilots initiated a missed approach procedure. Soon after Sowind Air Flight 318, another flight of the airline operated by a Piper PA-31 Navajo, landed at Little Grand Rapids, and the crew of Flight 318 contacted Flight 301 informing them that the visibility now was about 3 kilometers. So the crew of Flight 301 initiated a second approach. As the EMB-110 was descending south-west of the airport, near Allan Johnston Lake, the power to its engines was increased, the aircraft banked left and then right and crashed into trees at around 3:26 pm local time. Four people, the captain and three passengers, of the 17 on board were killed. The aircraft forward section was destroyed by the impact, due to this it's where the fatalities were located, while the rear section remained relatively intact.