The following is an executive summary of the report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) into the accident involving Swissair Flight 111 near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, on the night of 2 September 1998. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 with 215 passengers and 14 crew members on board, was on a scheduled flight from New York, United States of America, to Geneva, Switzerland.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is an independent agency, created by an Act of the Canadian Parliament. The TSB reports directly to Parliament and is completely separate from Transport Canada and other government departments.
The TSB mission is to advance transportation safety by:
September 2, 1998: At 21:18 Atlantic daylight time (ADT), Swissair Flight 111 (SR 111), a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft, departs John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, en route to Geneva, Switzerland, with 215 passengers and 14 crew members on board. Approximately 53 minutes after take-off, while cruising at 33 000 feet, the crew notices an unusual smell in the cockpit.
Late afternoon on 25 April 2021, the Great Slave Helicopters 2018 Ltd. Airbus Helicopters AS350 B2 (A21C0038) departed from a remote camp on Russell Island, Nunavut (NU), on a day visual flight rules (VFR) flight to Resolute Bay Airport, NU. On board were the pilot, an aircraft maintenance engineer, and a biologist.
Investigations conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) are complex since an accident rarely results from a single cause. In the case of the 2021 fatal collision with terrain of an Airbus Helicopters AS350 helicopter on Griffith Island, Nunavut (A21C0038), several factors led to the accident. The seven findings below detail the causes and contributing factors that led to this occurrence. Additionally during the course of the investigation, the TSB also made six findings as to risk.
This safety issue investigation (A18Q0140) examines a series of 18 occurrences that took place at certain airports undergoing construction in Quebec and Nunavut between 2013 and 2018. In these occurrences, the width of the runway was reduced rather than the length. In all but two cases, aircraft had manoeuvred on the closed portion of the runway during takeoff or landing.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is issuing a Board recommendation and a safety concern as a result of this safety issue investigation.
Investigations conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) are complex – an accident is never caused by just one factor. The March 2017 mid-air collision near the Montréal/St-Hubert Airport, Quebec was no exception. There were many factors that caused this accident, the details of which are contained in the 7 findings as to causes and contributing factors.
