Unclear landing regulations a factor in 2020 flight incident in Nunavut, TSB says

A flight crew’s decision to land in Kugaaruk with low visibility was a major factor in a 2020 aircraft accident in the community, the Transportation Safety Board says in a new report.

The federal investigative agency says it’s up to Transport Canada to draft clearer rules and directives around approaches and landings at small airports across the country.

The TSB report, released Tuesday, investigated what happened to make a Buffalo Airways Ltd. charter veer off the runway and collide with a snowbank during a landing at the Kugaaruk airport on April 28, 2020.

The Beechcraft King Air A100 plane carried freight and two flight crew from Cambridge Bay.

They were following instrument flight rules, which means they were flying according to a flight plan the crew submitted before taking off in bad weather, when visibility is too poor to rely on.

The TSB investigation found that during the later stages of the King Air’s approach, a crosswind from the left, combined with blowing snow, forced the aircraft off the right side of the runway upon landing.

No one was injured in the incident, but the aircraft was damaged.

Kugaaruk’s airfield has no approach ban — a measurement of ground visibility that flight crews can use to determine whether it’s safe to land. And the absence of that can make decision-making difficult for pilots, the TSB said in its report.

“The flight crew believed the landing was permitted given the absence of an approach ban, and landed even though the reported ground visibility was below the minimum aerodrome operating visibility,” said the TSB report.

“The rules that govern instrument approaches in Canada are too complex, confusing and ineffective at preventing pilots from conducting approaches that are not allowed, or banned, because they are below the minimum weather limits.”

The TSB has already issued recommendations to Transport Canada, asking the federal department to review and simplify operating standards for approaches and landings at small Canadian airports.

The agency is also asking the department to create a mechanism to stop approaches and landings that are actually banned.

In response, Transport Canada agreed to create an industry working group to propose new approach ban regulations.

“Until these recommendations are fully addressed, there remains a risk that flight crews will initiate, or continue, approaches in weather conditions that do not permit a safe landing,” the TSB said on Tuesday.

Following the incident, Buffalo Airways Ltd. conducted its own survey among its pilots to gauge how well they understand visibility restrictions.

The airline determined that not all pilots understood that the minimum visibility for operating an aircraft.

The airline conducted a review of those regulations with its staff and updated the company’s recurrent flight training, the TSB said.