OTTAWA, Ont. — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has issued a safety advisory following its investigation of a fatal plane crash north of Kenora in March.
The pilot of a ski-equipped single-engine aircraft died after it went out of control and struck the frozen surface of Snowshoe Lake, where he owned a hunting and fishing lodge.
According to the TSB, the crash occurred while the pilot was making a low pass over the lake to advise lodge guests of his arrival.
An employee who was a passenger in the plane died in hospital six days later from injuries suffered in the collision.
Investigators inspected the airframe at the site and discovered a separation in the strut assembly caused by excessive corrosion.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued a directive in 2015 requiring the inspection of potentially corroded strut assemblies on several different models of Piper aircraft.
The TSB said it could find no record such an inspection was conducted on the plane that crashed at Snowshoe Lake.
However, it discovered during its own lab tests that one of the methods prescribed by the FAA for checking for corrosion—a "punch test" followed by an inspection for any resulting dents—produces inconclusive results.
The TSB is now recommending that Transport Canada review the testing procedures that are currently prescribed to ensure their reliability.
