Incomplete risk assessment likely contributed to 2022 B.C. plane crash that killed three, TSB says

Investigators say a pilot’s limited knowledge of local wind conditions and a possibly incomplete risk assessment likely led him to lose control of his plane in a crash in British Columbia that killed all three people aboard. The Transportation Safety Board’s final report says the crash happened on Nov. 23, 2022, as the seaplane was taking off from a logging camp in Strachan Bay on B.C.’s central coast, bound for Port Hardy in northern Vancouver Island. The plane reached just 30 metres above sea level before pitching down into the water, killing the pilot and two passengers.

The investigation found wind shear and “mechanical turbulence” at low altitudes at the time of takeoff. The report says investigators could not determine exactly why the pilot lost control. The aircraft had several modifications for water operations and short-distance takeoffs and landings, and the pilot may not have known how the changes affected its handling.

“If multiple (modifications) are installed without adequate guidance on how to evaluate and document their cumulative effects on aircraft handling and performance, there is a risk that the aircraft will have unexpected flight characteristics, increasing the possibility for loss of control,” the report says. However, it identifies the pilot’s failure to properly assess pre-flight risks in light of the weather as one of the main contributing factors in the crash.

“Despite encountering moderate-to-severe turbulence and strong wind gusts on the previous flight, the occurrence pilot had limited knowledge of, and familiarity with, the effects of the winds at Strachan Bay. As a result, his assessment of the risks, before his decision to take off, was likely incomplete,” the report says. The Canadian Press first published this report on Oct. 15, 2026.