How Did the First Air Flight 6560 Unfold?

The Disaster and Its Immediate Cause

The Boeing 737-200 struck a hill obscured by clouds near Resolute Bay Airport during its final approach. Of the fifteen people on board, twelve were killed in the impact while the remaining three passengers survived with severe injuries. The flight had departed from Yellowknife Airport at 09:40 Central Daylight Time carrying eleven passengers and four crew members. The crew had agreed not to divert despite reports of deteriorating weather conditions at the destination. The aircraft was operating a domestic charter service when it encountered difficulties during the descent phase of the flight.

Approximately one nautical mile east of the runway, the aircraft broke up into three main sections upon impact with the terrain. An intense post-crash fire consumed most of the centre section of the Boeing 737-210C. Both pilots and two flight attendants were killed in the impact along with eight passengers. Three passengers survived the crash with severe injuries and required immediate medical attention. The aircraft involved was a combi version with registration C-GNWN. It was manufactured in 1975 and was operating under instrument flight rules at the time of the accident. The collision occurred moments after the crew initiated a go-around procedure.

First Reports From the Scene

The crew initiated a go-around at 11:41 as the aircraft collided with terrain abeam the runway. The aircraft had made its final turn to line up with runway 35 at 11:38. The crew reported being ten nautical miles away from the airport at that time. While descending in cloud, the aircraft settled on a track roughly parallel and to the east of the runway centreline. Instead of following the localizer signal along the runway track, the plane drifted significantly off course. The subsequent investigation found that a late initiation of the descent contributed to the accident. Inadvertent partial disengagement of the autopilot during final approach was also identified as a factor. Poor communication between the flight crew resulted in the aircraft drifting from the final approach path.

Rescue operations were carried out by Canadian Armed Forces temporarily stationed at Resolute for Operation Nanook. This military exercise coincidentally used a simulated remote aircraft crashing as one of two main training scenarios. The exercise was interrupted to allow the forces to join the search and rescue operation in progress. Two survivors, a seven-year-old girl and a forty-eight-year-old male, were taken to Ottawa for medical treatment. The third survivor, a twenty-three-year-old female, was treated at Iqaluit. All three survivors were reported to be in stable conditions. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed the aircraft had crashed near Resolute Bay. First Air reported the aircraft had last radio contact about five nautical miles from the airport.

Rescue, Response, and Fallout

The immediate response to the crash was significantly shaped by the presence of Canadian Armed Forces personnel at Resolute. These military units were temporarily stationed in the region to conduct Operation Nanook, a major military exercise scheduled for that specific period. This pre-existing military presence facilitated a rapid deployment of resources to the rugged terrain where the Boeing 737-210C had broken apart. The proximity of these trained personnel likely expedited the initial assessment of the crash site and the extraction of survivors from the remote location near the airport.

Medical evacuation efforts focused on transporting the three survivors to facilities capable of handling their severe injuries. The crash site was located approximately 1 nautical mile east of the runway in difficult terrain.

The Questions the Disaster Left Behind

The investigation into the First Air Flight 6560 crash identified several critical factors that contributed to the fatal outcome. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 with registration C-GNWN, had departed Yellowknife Airport carrying eleven passengers and four crew members. A drift in the aircraft compass system further complicated the navigation process. These combined errors led to the plane striking a hill obscured by clouds, moments after the crew attempted to initiate a go-around procedure.

Captain Blair Rutherford was designated as the pilot flying for the segment, while First Officer David Hare served as the pilot monitoring. The flight was conducted in accordance with instrument flight rules, despite deteriorating weather conditions reported at the destination. The crew had agreed not to divert from their planned route to Resolute Bay Airport. The remaining three passengers survived with severe injuries, highlighting the catastrophic nature of the impact and the subsequent fire that followed the collision with the ground.

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