Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314

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Aviation accident on 11 February 1978

Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314
Accident
A Pacific Western Boeing 737-200 similar to the one involved in the accident
Date	11 February 1978 (1978-02-11)
Summary	Runway incursion caused by pilot error and ATC error, thrust reverser deployment during go-around
Site	Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport, Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada 49°36′41″N 115°46′56″W / 49.6114°N 115.78225°W / 49.6114; -115.78225
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-275
Operator	Pacific Western Airlines
IATA flight No.	PW314
ICAO flight No.	PWA314
Call sign	PACIFIC WESTERN 314
Registration	C-FPWC
Flight origin	Fort McMurray International Airport
1st stopover	Edmonton International Airport
2nd stopover	Calgary International Airport
Last stopover	Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport
Destination	Castlegar Airport
Occupants	49
Passengers	44
Crew	5
Fatalities	43 (42 initially)
Injuries	At least 5
Survivors	6 (7 initially)

On 11 February 1978, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashed at Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport, near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, killing 43 of the 49 people on board.

The scheduled flight from Fort McMurray International Airport to Castlegar Airport via Edmonton, Alberta, Calgary, Alberta and Cranbrook, British Columbia crashed after its thrust reversers did not fully stow following an aborted landing to avoid a snowplow on the runway. Calgary air traffic control was in major error in its calculation of the flight's arrival time at Cranbrook, and the flight crew did not report while passing a beacon on final approach.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-275 that was nearly eight years old at the time of the accident. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A turbofan engines.

The captain was 30-year-old Chris Miles, who had been with Pacific Western Airlines since 1967 and became a Boeing 737 captain 10 years later in 1977. He had 5,173 flight hours, including 2,780 hours on the Boeing 737. The first officer was 25-year-old Peter Van Oort, who had been with the airline since 1971 and became a 737 first officer in 1977. He too was an experienced pilot, having logged 4,316 flight hours, 2,735 of them on the Boeing 737.

Accident

Flight 314 departed Calgary at 12:32 on an estimated 23-minute flight to Cranbrook. This estimate was passed to Cranbrook by Calgary Air Traffic Control. Cranbrook was not a controlled airport, and while it had an "aero-radio" station to provide weather and advisory information to aircraft, it had no control tower or air traffic controllers. As it was snowing, equipment operator Terry George was sent out to clear the runway with a snowplow, to be called off the runway shortly before Flight 314's arrival.

As Flight 314 neared Cranbrook airport, it was snowing with a visibility of 3/4 mile (about 1.2 km). The Cranbrook aero-radio operator advised George of the estimated arrival of Flight 314 at 13:05. Flight 314 was expected to report on the approach when passing the "Skookum Beacon", which would give about seven minutes notice of arrival at Cranbrook. At 12:46, Flight 314 contacted Cranbrook aero-radio and was passed the latest weather and runway information. One minute later, Cranbrook aero-radio advised Flight 314 that there was a snowplow out on the runway removing snow. First Officer Van Oort acknowledged this with "Three Fourteen checks".

Upon passing the Skookum beacon, Captain Miles elected not to do a customary circle and proceeded for a straight-in approach into Runway 16 at Cranbrook. For reasons unknown, the pilots did not report passing the beacon, nor did they report that they were on final approach, which meant that the aero-radio operator believed the flight would arrive at 13:05 and did not call George off the runway. At 12:55, 10 minutes before their estimated time of arrival at Cranbrook, flight 314 touched down about 800 feet (240 m) from the runway threshold. The pilots did not see the snowplow due to the poor visibility and because the snowplow produced a plume of snow that obscured it. Captain Miles brought the throttles to idle and engaged reverse thrust, deploying the two thrust reversers, but two seconds later saw the snowplow about 1,000 feet (300 m) ahead of him. George saw in his rearview mirror the 737 coming straight at him and swerved to get out of its way, but did not have enough time. To avoid a fatal collision, Miles immediately disengaged reverse thrust and both pilots slammed the throttle levers all the way forward and pulled back on their control columns to abort the 737's landing and initiate a go-around. They pushed so hard on the throttles that Miles fractured his thumb. George radioed, "Where the hell did he come from?". The aero-radio operator responded, "I don't know Terry, but he sure didn't call after his first call." The aircraft passed a few meters above the snowplow and flew down the runway at a height of 50 to 70 feet (15 to 21 m).

When reverse thrust was cancelled, the plane lifted off so rapidly that the hydraulic isolation valve in the left thrust reverser closed, cutting off power to the actuator, with the reverser doors 2 inches (5 cm) open and the isolation valve in the partially open position. About six seconds after going around and 4,000 feet (1,200 m) from the runway threshold, as the aircraft climbed through 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) and the airspeed increased, aerodynamic forces caused the left thrust reverser to deploy, causing the plane to yaw hard to the left, making the plane very difficult to fly and the airspeed greatly decayed. Flight 314 was now in a high drag configuration close to the ground, at a low speed, and with a deployed thrust reverser. Evidence indicates that First Officer Van Oort took off his seatbelt and stood up to flick the reverser override switch, which would restore hydraulic pressure to the reverser to close it. He raised the flaps from 40° to 15°, but the landing gear remained locked in the down position. Van Oort managed to open the safety cap to the switch, but Captain Miles (possibly because of the intense pain of his fractured thumb) let off the right rudder, throwing the co-pilot off balance and he never flipped the switch. By this point the airspeed had decayed so much that no amount of aileron or rudder would be enough to save the plane. Flight 314 banked steeply to the left from a height of 400 feet (120 m). Captain Miles shouted over the radio "We're gonna crash!". Ten seconds after going around, the 737 crashed to the left of the runway banked 90° to the left and 30° nose down. The aircraft was destroyed in the impact and subsequent fire with only the cockpit and the tail section remaining recognizable. George left the snowplow and with two firefighters rushed towards the crash site. They found six survivors including one flight attendant. One additional survivor was found in the forward section of the aircraft with a severe head injury, but died 11 days later. 43 people, including Miles and Van Oort, were killed in the crash.

Investigation

The crash investigation was conducted by the Aviation Safety Investigation Division of Transport Canada and audited by the Aircraft Accident Review Board. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) was destroyed by the fire but the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was useable although some parameters were unreadable. Boeing simulations showed that the aircraft was controllable with one engine at idle reverse and the other at full forward thrust in a gear up, flaps 15° configuration. With flaps 25 and gear down, it was not possible to maintain level flight. The go-around would have been successful if the left engine thrust reverser doors had not been deployed.

In popular culture

The events of the crash featured in an episode of the History channel documentary Disasters of the Century, entitled "Collision Course".

References

Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
Ranter, Harro. "ATC transcript Pacific Western Flight 314 – 11 Feb 1978". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
"February 11, 1978 : Cranbrook, BC, Canada : Pacific Western Airlines, Flight 314 : Boeing B-737-275 [sic] : C-FPWC". www.planecrashinfo.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
"Pacific Western C-FPWC (Boeing 737 - MSN 20142) (Ex CF-PWC)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
"C-FPWC Pacific Western Airlines Boeing 737-200". www.planespotters.net. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
^ "Aircraft accident, Pacific Western Airlines Boeing 737, C-FPWC, Cranbrook, B.C., 11 February, 1978" (PDF). Aviation Safety Investigation Division, Aviation Safety Bureau, Transport Canada. H80001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014 – via Federal Aviation Administration. (from Library and archives Canada cataloguing data)
Collision Course (Documentary), Jason Malloy, 1 October 2005, archived from the original on 12 February 2017, retrieved 5 December 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Canada
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1950s	Douglas C-54D disappearance (January 1950) British Columbia B-36 crash (February 1950) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 9 (May 1954) Convent Crash (May 1956) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (December 1956) Maritime Central Airways Flight 315 (August 1957) Pan Am Flight 115 (February 1959)
1960s	Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 (November 1963) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 (July 1965) ČSA Flight 523 (September 1967)
1970s	Air Canada Flight 621 (July 1970) American Airlines Flight 96 (June 1972) Panarctic Oils Flight 416 (October 1974) TWA Flight 355 (September 1976) Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 (February 1978) Air Canada Flight 189 (June 1978) Quebecair Flight 255 (March 1979)
1980s	Gimli Glider (July 1983) Pacific Western Airlines Flight 501 (March 1984) Arrow Air Flight 1285R (December 1985) Air Ontario Flight 1363 (March 1989)
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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1978 (1978)
Jan 1 Air India Flight 855Feb 11 Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314Feb 17 British Army Gazelle downingMar 1 Continental Airlines Flight 603Mar 3 LAV HS 748 accidentMar 9 China Airlines Flight 831Mar 13 United Airlines Flight 696Mar 16 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 107Apr 20 Korean Air Lines Flight 902May 8 National Airlines Flight 193May 19 Aeroflot Flight 6709May 23 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crashJun 21 Iranian Chinook shootdownJun 26 Air Canada Flight 189Jun 26 Helikopter Service Flight 165Aug 9 Olympic Airways Flight 411Aug 30 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijackingSep 3 Air Rhodesia Flight 825Sep 7 Air Ceylon Avro HS 748 bombingSep 25 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182Sep 26 Air Caribbean Flight 309Sep 30 Finnair Flight 405Oct 3 Finnish Air Force DC-3 crashOct 7 Aeroflot Flight 1080Oct 21 Valentich disappearanceOct 23 Aeroflot Flight 6515Nov 15 Loftleiðir Flight 001Dec 4 Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217Dec 17 Indian Airlines Flight 403Dec 20 Indian Airlines Flight 410Dec 21 TWA Flight 541Dec 22 Cessna 188 Pacific rescueDec 23 Alitalia Flight 4128Dec 28 United Airlines Flight 173
1977 ◄ ► 1979

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1978 (1978)

Jan 1 Air India Flight 855Feb 11 Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314Feb 17 British Army Gazelle downingMar 1 Continental Airlines Flight 603Mar 3 LAV HS 748 accidentMar 9 China Airlines Flight 831Mar 13 United Airlines Flight 696Mar 16 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 107Apr 20 Korean Air Lines Flight 902May 8 National Airlines Flight 193May 19 Aeroflot Flight 6709May 23 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crashJun 21 Iranian Chinook shootdownJun 26 Air Canada Flight 189Jun 26 Helikopter Service Flight 165Aug 9 Olympic Airways Flight 411Aug 30 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijackingSep 3 Air Rhodesia Flight 825Sep 7 Air Ceylon Avro HS 748 bombingSep 25 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182Sep 26 Air Caribbean Flight 309Sep 30 Finnair Flight 405Oct 3 Finnish Air Force DC-3 crashOct 7 Aeroflot Flight 1080Oct 21 Valentich disappearanceOct 23 Aeroflot Flight 6515Nov 15 Loftleiðir Flight 001Dec 4 Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217Dec 17 Indian Airlines Flight 403Dec 20 Indian Airlines Flight 410Dec 21 TWA Flight 541Dec 22 Cessna 188 Pacific rescueDec 23 Alitalia Flight 4128Dec 28 United Airlines Flight 173

1977 ◄ ► 1979

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