Fatal plane crash near Lloydminster was preceded by stall: TSB report

An aircraft used to photograph power lines near Lloydminster stalled before it crashed in September 2024, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has found.

The finding was contained within a report on the incident, released Jan. 7.

On Sept. 8, 2024, the Cessna U206F aircraft, operated by KBM Forestry Consultants Inc., left a Kindersley airport to inspect power lines as part of a multi-day operation in an area southeast of the Lloydminster airport, according to the report.

The two-person crew shared duties of pilot and observer, with whoever flew in the morning operating cameras in the afternoon, the report states.

While undertaking this work, the pilot began a right turn at a height of about 200 to 300 feet.

“During the turn, the aircraft stalled and its bank angle to the right increased. While the aircraft was descending at a rate of at least 3000 fpm (feet per minute), it began to roll to the left toward a wings-level attitude,” the report states.

“Three seconds after the stall began, the aircraft impacted terrain.”

The pilot was killed while the observer was seriously injured and died three days later.

There was no sign of fire before or after the crash but the aircraft was destroyed, states the report, which describes an aerodynamic stall as “a loss of lift and an increase in drag that happens when an aircraft is flying at an angle of attack higher than that which provides maximum lift.”

When such a thing occurs, it results in an “almost complete loss of control of the aircraft’s trajectory and, because of the loss of lift, a high rate of descent.”

The report offers a concluding safety message.

“When required to conduct steep turns at low height, pilots need to be cautious given that there may be insufficient height to recover from a inadvertent stall.”

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