Pudasjärvi air accident

The Pudasjärvi air accident occurred on 5 February 1973, when a Kar-Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft flying the Oulu–Kuusamo route had to return to Oulu after one engine shut down shortly before arriving in Kuusamo. On the return journey the aircraft was unable to maintain altitude in icing weather conditions and made a forced landing in uninhabited wilderness at Rengasvaara in Pudasjärvi. On board were 15 passengers and, as crew, two pilots and a mechanic. The pilots were slightly injured in the forced landing; there were no other injuries.

After the forced landing, those on board set fire to a nearby barn to guide rescuers to the site. Burning the barn was, however, of no use, because the low cloud ceiling prevented search flights. On the contrary, by burning the barn the survivors lost their only shelter from the weather. The skis included in the aircraft's survival equipment were broken in a nearby ditch when an incompetent skier tried to go for help. The situation on the ground was made worse by the fact that no one in the crew took charge. A rescue helicopter from Sweden finally found them three hours after the forced landing.

According to the report of the board of inquiry, the accident was caused by an installation error made in connection with an engine repair. The repair of the engine that shut down had been carried out without the permission of the Finnish authorities at a Norwegian repair shop in Bodø, which did not have the approval of the Norwegian authority for repairing the engine types in question. The aircraft destroyed in the accident had been completed in 1968, and Kar-Air had bought it in July 1972. The aircraft had initially been used for mineral prospecting flights, and for the winter it was transferred to the Oulu–Kuusamo route.