No injuries in belly landing at Iqaluit airport

An Air Nunavut Beechcraft 200 Super King Air is removed from the Iqaluit airport runway after an apparent belly landing that occurred at around 12:20 p.m. July 17. The runway was closed for about two hours, until an airport crew was able to remove the aircraft. The incident occurred after a training flight. (PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN TATTUINEE)

A King Air 200 made a rough landing in Iqaluit July 17 when the aircraft’s wheels failed to deploy.

The Air Nunavut Ltd. plane was doing a training exercise that day when, around noon, the aircraft made a “belly landing” at the Iqaluit airport.

The body of the plane was damaged in the landing, but the two pilots aboard walked away from the site with no injuries, Air Nunavut said.

It took crews almost two hours to tow the King Air from the runway resulting in delays for other Iqaluit flights July 17.

The Iqaluit-based charter service said the company is waiting on news from investigators to find out exactly what happened.

On July 18, the Transportation Safety Board said investigators were “assessing the occurrence,” the first step in determining whether an investigation is warranted.

TSB spokesman Eric Collard said the federal agency planned to speak with the aircraft’s two crew members this week.

Air Nunavut Ltd., first launched in 1989, offers cargo and medical transport to and from communities in the eastern Arctic with its fleet of Beechcraft King Air 200s as well as Dassault Falcon 10s based in southern Ontario.