“When the tasks required to fly an aircraft exceed the pilot’s capacity to conduct them, the aircraft starts to ‘get ahead’ of the pilot — or the pilot ‘gets behind’ the aircraft,” said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) in explaining a factor that likely was involved in the fatal crash of a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 Marquise during an approach to Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Quebec) Airport on March 29, 2016.
“In this occurrence,” the TSB’s final report said, “inadequate approach planning and distraction caused by discussions not specific to the flight contributed to the pilot ‘getting behind’ the aircraft, as demonstrated by the following signs: late descent, slow initial rate of descent, minimal corrections to rate of descent and airspeed, failure to complete checklists, and late landing configuration of the aircraft.”
The accident occurred during a private flight with six passengers, including former federal Cabinet minister Jean Lapierre and se…
