I remember this like it was yesterday and have visited their monument every time I’ve been on the island since then.

Pelee is in the Canadian waters of Lake Erie and my favorite place on earth.

They have pheasant farms on the island and release the birds for an island wide hunt twice a yr.

My brother has been several times.

This event totally changed me and what I thought about living on a tiny island in the middle of no where.

Only way on/off is by boat or plane.

So the short story is, flight was in the winter, Lake was frozen, pilot allowed it to be way overloaded, including his girlfriend who wasn’t even on flight log…, wings had ice on them, and they took off anyhow!

Ten people and two hunting dogs.

They made it 1 1/2 mls before plunging through the ice and killing everything on board!

To add agony to the families involved, the ice was so thick, weather was so bad, it took them a wk to find the plane.

Even when they made access holes for recovery divers, the wave action would smash the ice closed over the opening.

The rescue guys were struggling because they couldn’t help the families find closure.

I remember after they found the plane, the weather cleared and you could see the plane through the ice, from above.

Heres a report of it from todays Windsor Star for anyone interested.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/20-years-later-pelee-island-plane-crash-still-haunts-loved-ones

1300 lbs over weight AND ice on the wings is a bad combination for a single engine turbo prop.

The Ohio jet crash a few years back was spooky: New to him Citation CJ4, snowy and he flew in to watch a Cavaliers game and took off and crashed into the lake.

A more detailed report but, clearly, clearly, pilot error.


I know just enough, have enough pilot friends, have flown in enough single engine planes to know that pilot error is the #1 cause of small plane crashes.

They either run out of gas (!!!!) or misread weather.

https://www.iheartradio.ca/am800/audio/pelee-island-plane-crash-20-years-later-1.21356951?mode=Article

Man, that is terrible.

Words from my old flight instructor “there are old polite and bold pilots, but very few old, bold pilots. Don’t be a bold pilot”

We’ve flown to the islands several times.

Last time to Pelee in fog.

Got 1/2 way there and piloted aborted due to visibility.

Spent the rest of the day in their office waiting on fog to clear.

At the last time slot available for that day, the owner of the charter svc flew us over.

I have video (somewhere) of us on final approach to Pelee where we lost sight of the air strip due to the fog before it reappears just in time for us to land!

Once again, we just never know what's coming for us. Life is fragile. Sad deal indeed Twin OB.

I spent 2 wks watching the news.

So sad.

Video of the crash scene, recovery efforts.

Ill never forget the rescue (recovery) divers wanting to go get them and the looks on their faces as they waited on weather while the families suffered.

It really got to them.

http://www.bcc.ca/player/play/2300526147718

A citation CJ is a twin engine jet. Not that it makes a difference but that is the aircraft being quoted. It appears that it was a citation Caravan which is a large payload capacity single Turbo prop. They are great aircraft. I have lost a few friends in small aircraft (we lived in a fly-in community for several years) and people just get to comfortable.

Joe

Post #2 mentioned a different crash that was a 525 back in 2017 or 18 if I remember right. Pilot was the owner of Superior Beverage a beer distributor and lived maybe 10 minutes from me. From what I remember the weather, pilot inexperience and fatigue shared the blame.