Calm Air flight lands safely after flap blows off

A passenger aboard an Aug. 24 Calm Air flight to Arviat noticed the plane’s cowling flap blow off on take-off. The crew alerted the pilot, who circled around and landed the aircraft. No one was injured in the incident. (PHOTO BY GORDY KIDLAPIK)

(updated at 2:15 p.m.)

A Calm Air flight bound for Arviat, in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, lost a piece of its outside hull Aug. 24.

The Saab 340 was taking off from Churchill, Man. with roughly a dozen onboard. when passenger Gordy Kidlapik noticed that the cowling flap had cme loose. The cowling is a part of the hull covering the aircraft’s engine.

“I noticed when we were just taking off that the cowling was shaking a bit,” Kidlapik said. “I told the flight attendant, who radioed the pilot. Then the part blew off as we were still going up.”

Passengers were booked on a later flight, although no damage to the aircraft’s engine was reported.

“Shortly after departure from Churchill, the crew noted something was wrong and circled back around,” said Chris Krepski, a Transportation Safety Board spokesman, about the incident.

“They landed without incident and no one was injured.”

The Transportation Safety Board has yet to receive a report of the incident from Calm Air, although Krepski said it is a maintenance issue and will not require follow-up.

Calm Air flies daily between Winnipeg and points in the the Kivalliq region.