It’s been 32 years since the crash of Air Ontario Flight 1363 near Dryden, Ontario. It was in March 1989 when a scheduled Air Ontario flight departed from Thunder Bay bound for Winnipeg with a quick stop in Dryden.
It was their departure from the Dryden Regional Airport where everything went wrong. On takeoff, the plane with a rude name (Fokker F-28) struck some trees beyond the end of the runway and essentially disintegrated on impact.
The cause? Ice and snow accumulating on the wings of the plane.
While unfortunate, the crash set the standards for all future flights in Canada which included new procedures regarding re-fueling and de-icing.
Out of the 65 passengers: 21 of them lost their lives, 3 of the 4 crew members on board, which included both pilots – Captain George John Morwood and Keith Mills. For a closer look into the accounts of the survivors and townsfolk, see below:
