Ten Seconds to Impact: Snowplow on Runway, 43 Dead

Aviation Survival Stories · Sep 23, 2026 · 18m

Ten Seconds to Impact: Snowplow on Runway, 43 Dead

A routine regional flight landed ten minutes early into heavy snow with a snowplow actively clearing Runway Sixteen - and ten seconds after touchdown forty-three people were dead. The crew never knew the plow was there, the airport was uncontrolled, and five separate failures stacked together; what single decision, if changed, would have stopped the chain?

In this episode, we follow the facts of Flight 314’s February 11, 1978 arrival at Cranbrook and trace how timing, communication, and procedure combined to create a catastrophe. We cover the…