Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102
Consolidated Canso A · Controlled flight into terrain
From Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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
- 23 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 23
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Consolidated Canso A
- Flight
- QCA102
- Aircraft type
- Consolidated CANSO
- 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
- CF-FOQ
- Operator
- Queen Charlotte Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 23
- Route
- From Kitimat, British Columbia, CanadaTo Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 October 17, 1951, a Consolidated PBY Catalina operating as Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102 crashed into Mount Benson in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 23 occupants and destroying the aircraft. At the time, the crash was the deadliest in the province.
Crash
The aircraft took off from Kitimat at 3:30 p.m., en route to an unspecified airport in Vancouver. The flight was originally expected to land at 6:10 p.m., but was delayed. Dark, rainy and misty weather caused the pilot to go 60 kilometers west of the flight path in the vicinity of Nanaimo. Witnesses reported seeing it circle twice before veering west, barely clearing the power lines of a transmission station. The pilot reportedly mistook Nanaimo for Vancouver. Ten minutes after the last radio report, the plane flew into the side of Mount Benson exploded, and fell 500 feet to a ledge, setting trees and tree stumps on fire. Broken and seared bodies were scattered up to 152 meters from the point of impact.
A rescue team of 18 men, led by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, drove 8 kilometers in back of Nanaimo to the mountain. They divided into four groups and went up different trails, using flashlights for visibility. It took about three hours for the first group to reach the crash site. More than 90 officials and volunteers climbed to the crash site, carrying back the remains on stretchers. In all, twenty bodies were recovered and ten bodies positively identified. Three were missing and presumed to have been incinerated. A field morgue was set up at the base of the mountain.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The probable cause of the accident was the continuance of the flight VFR at night under conditions of restricted visibility. Whilst it cannot be determined conclusively, it is probable that through a navigation error the pilot mistook Nanaimo for Vancouver. This may have been precipitated by inadequate pre-flight preparation in that the latest Meteorological Information was not obtained by the pilot before taking off on the south bound flight.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102” (revision 1366913511, 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: Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102
- Revision
- 1366913511 · 2026-07-30 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q138004871
- 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 "Queen Charlotte Airlines Flight 102" (page 82088818, revision 1366913511)
- 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
- airline flight number 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.