At 1858 on 30 July 2018, the Georgian Bay Airways float‑equipped Found Aircraft Canada FBA-2C1 Bush Hawk-XP aircraft (registration C-FKNS, serial number 34) departed from Toronto/Billy Bishop Toronto City Water Aerodrome (CPZ9), Ontario, bound for Parry Sound Harbour Water Aerodrome (CPS1), Ontario. On board were the pilot and 1 passenger, who was a friend of the pilot and was seated in the front-right seat. The trip was a ferry flight to return the aircraft to the company’s floatplane base at Parry Sound following a charter flight bringing passengers to CPZ9. A member of the pilot’s family was staying at a cottage on Lake Muskoka, and the pilot decided to fly over the cottage on the return trip.

At about 1930, the pilot descended and flew over the cottage, which was on the west point of a small bay, at about 80 knots indicated airspeed (KIAS). He then circled around to fly over the cottage again, flying just above tree-top level. Witnesses saw people standing outside at the cottage, watching the aircraft fly over. The aircraft closely cleared some trees before entering a right turn and flying along the shoreline of the small bay to the east of the cottage. The bank angle in the right turn became steep as the aircraft headed toward a wooded point on the east side of the bay. The aircraft turned before reaching the wooded point and continued turning to the south in a steep right bank and began to lose altitude as the nose pitched down. The aircraft reportedly did not respond to left aileron input. The aircraft continued to descend, and struck the surface of the water in a steep right-bank, nose-low attitude. It then cartwheeled before coming to rest in the water. Both occupants were wearing 4-point safety harnesses and sustained minor injuries.

The cabin of the aircraft began to rapidly fill with water as the aircraft began to sink. The passenger released her seatbelt but could not locate the handle for the front-right door. The pilot released his seatbelt and tried to help the passenger open the front-right door. As water continued to fill the aircraft cabin, both occupants egressed by passing over the front seats and out one of the rear doors.

Neither the pilot nor the passenger had received egress training, nor were they required to by regulation. Personal flotation devices (PFDs) were on board the aircraft; however, neither occupant was wearing one, nor did they egress with them. Current regulations do not require that aircraft occupants wear PFDs.

The crash site was relatively close to shore, and witnesses arrived on scene immediately to rescue the 2 occupants from the water.

The weather at the time of the occurrence was suitable for visual flight rules flight. Muskoka Airport (CYQA), Ontario, located about 6.5 nautical miles east of the accident site, recorded clear conditions with a light wind out of the west.

The pilot held a valid commercial pilot licence – aeroplane, with a single- and multi-engine land and seaplane rating, a Group 1 instrument rating, and a valid Category 1 medical certificate. He had accumulated over 1800 hours total flight time, including 1600 hours on seaplanes. He began working for GBA in 2012 and was the chief pilot and operations manager at the time of the accident.

The Bush Hawk-XP is equipped with a vane-type stall warning unit in the leading edge of the right wing. The unit is designed to activate an aural warning and a light between 5 and 10 knots above the stall speed in all configurations. The aircraft’s published wings-level stall speed is 58 KIAS.

After the submerged aircraft was raised out of the water, it was examined on site. There was no indication of a pre-impact aircraft system malfunction or airframe failure. The aircraft was destroyed. All damage to the aircraft was consistent with overload forces from the impact with the water and with the engine operating at impact. The flaps were in the fully retracted position.

Pilots normally use the ailerons to raise a wing that drops (roll moment); however, using ailerons to raise a wing that has dropped as a result of a stall can aggravate the stall condition. For example, if the right wing dropped during the stall and excessive aileron control were applied to the left to raise the wing, the aileron deflected downward (right wing) would produce an even greater angle of attack (and drag), and could result in a more complete stall at the wing tip as the critical angle of attack is exceeded. The increase in drag created by the high angle of attack on that wing might cause the airplane to yaw in that direction. This adverse yaw could result in a spin if directional control were not maintained by the rudder or the aileron control input were not sufficiently reduced.

The typical recovery from a stall initially involves releasing the back elevator pressure, or moving the elevator control forward (elevator down) so that the angle of attack is reduced sufficiently to smooth the airflow over the wing. When the aircraft exhibits the first signs of recovery, a pilot will level the wings with aileron and gradually release the nose-down pressure. Any tendency to yaw is corrected by applying the rudder. As the recovery progresses and flight is regained, the nose-down pressure transitions to nose-up pressure (elevator up) to recapture the lost altitude.

When an aircraft stalls at low altitude, sufficient altitude may not be available to allow the appropriate stall recovery techniques to be applied before a collision with terrain occurs.

The aircraft flew near cottages at tree-top altitude.