Airwest Airlines accident in Vancouver Harbour
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 · Loss of control due to mechanical failure during landing approach
From Victoria Harbour, British Columbia, Canada to Vancouver Harbour Aerodrome, 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
- 11 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
- 2
- 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
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-6
- 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
- C-FAIV
- Operator
- Airwest Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 11
- Route
- From Victoria Harbour, British Columbia, CanadaTo Vancouver Harbour Aerodrome, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Vancouver, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Airwest Airlines accident in Vancouver Harbour occurred on 2 September 1978 on a domestic scheduled flight of Airwest Airlines within the Canadian province of British Columbia. On final approach to Vancouver Harbour, a float-equipped De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 crashed due to a mechanical failure. 11 of the 13 occupants of the aircraft were killed in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft took off at 17:18 from Victoria Harbour for the 20-minute flight to Vancouver Water Aerodrome. When it was at a height of 175 feet on final approach, a loud bang was suddenly heard. The aircraft yawed to the left and crashed into Vancouver Harbour with a left roll angle and its nose pointing downwards. Both crew members and nine of the eleven passengers died in the accident.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be a failure of the left inboard shaft of the high-lift device control system. As a result, the left-side high-lift devices had suddenly retracted, which led to the loss of control. It was found that the defective shaft, which had been torn from its mounting, showed considerable corrosion damage and three longitudinal cracks.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Airwest Airlines im Vancouver Harbour” (revision 221200349, 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 der Airwest Airlines im Vancouver Harbour
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 221200349 · 2022-03-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q111252410
- 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 der Airwest Airlines im Vancouver Harbour" (page 12059105, revision 221200349), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- 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.