Air transportation safety investigation A23Q0143

The occurrence

At 1525 Eastern Daylight Time on 26 October 2023, the Boeing of Canada Ltd. De Havilland Division DHC-8-106 aircraft (registration C-FLSX, serial number 285) operated by Air Creebec Inc. began an instrument flight rules flight from Chisasibi Airport (CSU2), Quebec, to Val-d’Or Airport (CYVO), Quebec, with 2 flight crew members, 1 cabin crew member, and 28 passengers on board. A few moments after beginning a descent from flight level 200, the flight crew received an instruction to hold at the initial approach waypoint IKDOB because an aircraft was going to land at CYVO before them.

The occurrence aircraft had been holding at 6000 feet above sea level for 12 minutes when it was cleared to conduct an area navigation approach to Runway 18 at CYVO using the global navigation satellite system. The aircraft exited the hold and ended up on a track that diverged from the approach. The pilot not flying reprogrammed the flight management system to rejoin the approach. A 2nd track divergence occurred at the final approach waypoint and, after terrain awareness and warning system alerts sounded, the flight crew conducted a go-around. The aircraft ended up 405 feet above ground level, 0.98 nautical miles to the right of the final approach path and 1.46 nautical miles from the runway threshold. A 2nd approach was conducted, and the aircraft landed on Runway 18 without further incident.