At 0932 Pacific Daylight Time on 26 July 2019, the float-equipped Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft (registration C-GURL, serial number 20800501), operated by Seair Seaplanes, departed Vancouver International Water Aerodrome, British Columbia, for a visual flight rules flight to a fishing lodge approximately 66 nautical miles north-northwest of Port Hardy Airport, British Columbia, with 1 pilot and 8 passengers on board.
On , a privately registered Cessna 185 E aircraft, equipped with amphibious floats, departed the runway at Orillia Ramara Regional Airport, Ontario, destined to Upper Raft Lake, located approximately 48 nm to the north of the Orillia/Lake St. John Water Aerodrome, with 7 people on board.
C-FACJ, a privately registered Cirrus SR20 aircraft, was rented by a commercially licensed pilot for the purpose of building flight time. As the pilot had limited experience on this aircraft type, in addition to no recent flying, the pilot hired an instructor to provide some training. The instructor was a Class 1 instructor, and a Transport Canada accredited Pilot Examiner.
On , the Sky Regional Airlines Embraer ERJ 170-200 SU aircraft (registration C-FEJB, serial number 17000086) was operating as flight SKV7665 on a scheduled flight from Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario, to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, United States. At 1348 Eastern Standard Time, the aircraft was departing from Runway 06L during snowy weather conditions.
On , an Air Canada Boeing 777-233LR (registration C-FNNH) was operating as flight ACA033 from Vancouver International Airport (CYVR), British Columbia, Canada, to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (YSSY), New South Wales, Australia, with 15 crew members and 269 passengers on board. The planned route was an almost direct routing over the Pacific Ocean with a planned flight time of 14 hours and 25 minutes.
