The Hard Way
The Canso was carrying 13 passengers on a flight from Tofino to Port Hardy. The aircraft was not equipped with sufficient seat belts to permit all passengers to be strapped in, and some who had seat belts available did not use them. Also, there were insufficient life jackets aboard. The cap this potentially hazardous neglect, the pilot, in trying to maintain VFR over Johnstone Strait in deteriorating weather, pressed on to the point where he considered that it would be unsafe to attempt a return. His alternative was to land straight ahead downwind and await clearing weather.
Preparations for a water landing were practically non-existent. The captain did not warn crew or passengers of the impending landing, so the navigator remained in the nose compartment. No seat belt warning was given. Life jackets were worn by some personnel - but to repeat - there were too few aboard, and even the co-pilot’s Mae West was packed in his parachute bag. The rpm settings were not advanced from cruising position, and with no warning to the engineer, mixtures controls remained in auto-lean. For the same reason, no wheelwell checks were done; and when the "down float" selection was signaled, there was no time to do a positive down-lock check.
The approach was made in a 10 knot tailwind at a higher-than-normal airspeed and the aircraft touched the water in a flat attitude with a small amount of starboard drift. The nose at once began to dig in and the Canso went into a vicious waterloop to port. The nose section broke up, trapping the navigator, and two other occupants of the aircraft were also lost. The rest of the crew and passengers evacuated the sinking aircraft and were subsequently picked up by a ship. While awaiting rescue the crew demonstrated inadequate knowledge of emergency equipment in that there were unable to get the dinghy inflated.
By continuing the flight into increasingly bad weather the pilot placed himself in the position of having to do things too quickly. As a result he failed to complete the very necessary checks always associated with a successful water landing whether downwind or into wind:
(a) Life jackets must always be worn.
With these items taken care of, the pilot’s mind is free to concentrate on the job in hand - that of getting the aircraft down in one piece. Captain, co-pilot and engineer must work in close cooperation. On signal from the captain, the engineer selects rich mixture on his controls. Propellers can then be set to high rpm. The engineer must see to wheel-checks and the pilot must signal "floats down" in sufficient time to permit them to be checked down and locked. The co-pilots job is to scan the alighting area for snags or deadheads and to check the airspeed. When these precautions are complete, the captain must concentrate his attention on maintaining the proper approach speed, eliminating drift, and holding off (probably with power on) until the correct landing attitude is attained. Under these conditions, landings will be successful. The water loop is discussed in an article on page 24 in the hope that the additional information will be instrumental in keeping you out of trouble.
This article was taken from the July/August 1956 issue of Flight Comment and made available to the Pinetree Line web site by Al Gallant.