[2] It crashed after only 49 seconds because it was not able to attain sufficient altitude to clear the trees beyond the end of the runway, due to a buildup of ice and snow on the wings.

His first officer was Keith Mills (35), also a highly experienced pilot with Air Ontario for 10 years, having accrued more than 10,000 hours of flying time.

[4] The flight had departed from Thunder Bay bound for Winnipeg with an intermediate stop in Dryden, where the aircraft struck trees shortly after takeoff and then disintegrated on impact.

Off-loading and reloading passengers would have taken considerable time, and the longer the aircraft stayed on the ground, the greater was the need for the wings to be sprayed with deicing fluid.

To prevent further delay and a greater possibility of a buildup on the wings, Captain Morwood decided to have the aircraft fueled while the engine was running and with passengers on board.

His report showed that competitive pressures caused by commercial deregulation cut into safety standards and that many of the industry's sloppy practices and questionable procedures placed the pilot in a very difficult situation.

The report also stated that the aircraft should not have been scheduled to refuel at an airport that did not have proper equipment, and that neither training nor manuals had sufficiently warned the pilot of the dangers of ice on the wings.

[11] The Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday featured the incident in a season-9 episode titled "Cold Case".