DH8A / Z42, vicinity Sault Ste. Marie ON Canada, 2014

DH8A / Z42, vicinity Sault Ste. Marie ON Canada, 2014

Summary

On 3 September 2014 in Class 'E' airspace, a light aircraft carrying out a spin recovery exercise in day VMC came very close to a DHC8 climbing out of Sault Ste. Marie. Although the DH8 crew had seen the light aircraft ahead and above and temporarily levelled off, the light aircraft then began a rapid descending turn and a TCAS RA 'Descend' followed. It was judged that a turn would also be necessary but even with this, the two aircraft subsequently passed within 350-450 feet at the same altitude in opposite directions. The Investigation made no Safety Recommendations.

Description

On 3 September 2014, a Bombardier DHC8-100 (C-GJMI) being operated by Jazz Aviation on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Sault Ste. Marie to Toronto as JZA7794 and a Zlin Z242L being operated for pilot training purposes by Sault College and manoeuvring came into very close conflict in day VMC despite the DH8 crew having visual contact and responding accordingly.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board using the FDR data from the DHC8 and radar recordings as the means to determine the relative flight paths as the conflict scenario developed. The location of the conflict was identified as 8nm south east of Sault Ste. Marie airport in Class 'E' US airspace under the control of Toronto ACC. This Class 'E' airspace borders the Class 'D' airspace of the Sault CTZ which extends to 3000 feet Altimeter Pressure Settings and has a 5nm radius from the airport plus an extension in the direction of the nearby VOR. The pilots of both aircraft and the controllers involved were all "considered sufficiently experienced for their current roles".

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