Photo: Canadian North plane grounded in CamBay

This Canadian North 737 combi jet has sat on the ground at the Cambridge Bay airport runway since May 12 and the airline has stopped jet service to the community, replacing the 737 with a Dash-8. That’s because flight 446 from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, with 27 passengers and four crew members aboard, landed May 12 amidst poor runway conditions that have yet to be fixed. Before landing, the pilots took a report that the runway was fine to land on, said Steve Hankirk, vice-president of operations at Canadian North. “But when they touched down, they found themselves in a lot of slush which tugged the aircraft to the right.” The pilots managed to keep control, but in doing so the jet drifted off to the north, Hankirk said, and a piece called a reverse bucket made contact with a small snow drift, picking up a bunch of snow and gravel. Mechanics have now made repairs and inspected the engine, and the aircraft is set to fly out May 15, he said. However, Canadian North has decided to stop its 737 service to Cambridge Bay, replacing it with a Dash-8. “When they get the runway into good shape again, we’ll be putting the 737 back in there,” Hankirk said. Meanwhile, the Government of Nunavut is investigating the incident, he said. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)