Maritime Central Airways Bristol 170 accident
Bristol 170 · The Maritime Central Airways Bristol 170 accident occurred on 13 February 1956 near Frobisher Bay in the Canadian province of Nunavut
From Iqaluit Airport (YFB) to Simpson Lake Airstrip, Nunavut, 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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
Bristol 170
- Aircraft type
- Bristol 170
- 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-FZU
- Operator
- Maritime Central Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Iqaluit Airport (YFB)To Simpson Lake Airstrip, Nunavut, Canada
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Maritime Central Airways Bristol 170 accident occurred on 13 February 1956 near Frobisher Bay in the Canadian province of Nunavut. A Bristol 170 of Maritime Central Airways, with which a charter cargo flight within the province of Nunavut was to be carried out, crashed immediately after take-off, killing all three occupants. Poor or inadequate cargo securing was determined to be the cause of the accident.
Sequence of events
The aircraft took off at 8:25 in Frobisher Bay. The captain, who was flying the aircraft, contacted air traffic control one minute after lift-off and reported that the cargo had shifted rearward during take-off. He then attempted to return to the airport. As the aircraft approached the end of the downwind leg at 8:27, its pitch angle was seen to increase. The aircraft then turned to the right and crashed at a distance of 1.5 miles (approx. 2.4 kilometres). Five seconds after impact the aircraft exploded and burned out. The aircraft was destroyed and the three crew members on board were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was assumed to be that the truck chassis, which had been inadequately secured, had rolled rearward during the take-off run, shifting the aircraft's centre of gravity rearward beyond the permissible limit. During his attempt to fly the aircraft back to the airport, the captain lost control of the Bristol, which then stalled, veered to the side and crashed.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Bristol 170 der Maritime Central Airways” (revision 237184552, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Bristol 170 der Maritime Central Airways
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237184552 · 2023-09-10 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q84955153
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Bristol 170 der Maritime Central Airways" (page 10913295, revision 237184552), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.