Was just reading the article on cbc.ca.  They said that snow and fog was blamed for the accident, but im not sure.  And it said witnesses saw it attempting to land in a field.  Im thinking it was an engine failure of some sort.

It was aCessna Caravan 208B

Yes, according to the pilot recorded radio transmits, she was pointing towards icing as well.

As for landing in a field. I lived 100 yards from the "confusion corner" they are talking about in Winipeg while stationed there in the military for a while. After the military, I worked ambulance through the intersection lots.............all I can say is that there are NO fields around this point. It is just on the inside of downtown...so to speach....who knows the actual downtown limits. From a buddy of mine who works police out there, she (the pilot) was trying to turn back towards the airport. She was only a couple of miles from it. She was trying for a runway but the caravan was sinking. She tried to land on the CN railway tracks that are about 4 or 5 tracks wide. Plenty of room and good length. Witnesses state that the aircraft came over lining up for the tracks and then went over and nosed into the tracks. Engine was working. I am going with ice to heavy, plane below Vs and stalled going into a spin while turning to line up with tracks.

This is from the major paper in front of me.

"within 10 minutes of departure, CChase Allen radioed the ATC at CYWG indicating a mayday, mayday, mayday.

In a calm vioce Chase-Allen tells ATC " I need an imediate back to the field.........I'm icing up to the point where...uh...I need a come back asap.

ATC imediatley directed her to airport by making a SW loop back around the city. He asks her to maintian Altitude.
Chase-Allen responds but suggests she she does not believe she can comply.

10 seconds later there was a click on the mic....then silence.

Witnesses stated seeing her swerving to avoid buildings and heavy taffic. It was carrying packages from Fed ex....but was not a fed ex plane.


She was 49 and I can say that with the tall lines, objects, buildings, traffic, ect that comes with a city that this pilot is a true hero and a remarkable aviator. For her to miss everything else to the point where she stalled and crashed the plane to save others lives...........I stand up and she gets my salute.

Company spokesperson says "even with the snow and ice (Winnipeg recieved 20.5 inches of snow overnight... ........) we still did not de-ice the plane.

If that wasn't sad enough...........she was covering for a co-worker on short notice and was to be on a day off but agreed to the exchange at the last moment.

Brent