Charter flight skids off runway in Kangirsuk

A small charter plane attempting to land at the Kangirsuk airport in strong crosswinds last month skidded off the runway, forcing the runway to be temporarily closed.

The two crew members lost control of the plane due to the winds, said Hugo Fontaine, media relations co-ordinator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

None of the four passengers were injured in the March 25 incident and the runway has reopened.

“They tried the landing, and slipped off the runway,” said Kangirsuk Mayor Noah Eetook in a phone interview Wednesday.

He said that due to poor weather no Air Inuit scheduled flights landed in Kangirsuk that day. Winds were about 70 km/h, and according to Air Inuit protocol the airline doesn’t land planes in those conditions, he said.

Eetook said the chartered plane had to land because it needed to refuel.

“They had to pitstop here to fill up the fuel, that is why they tried to land it,” he said.

Ian Darling, transportation director for Kativik Regional Government, said in an email that “despite the strong crosswinds, runway conditions were in excellent winter condition and runway guidance lighting was fully operational.”

He said airport staff escorted the passengers and crew to the terminal where they received medical attention.

“Pilots are advised of runway and weather conditions well in advance of landing,” he said. “Plane landing decisions are in the pilot’s hands.”

It remains unclear how long the runway stayed closed. Eetook said the closure lasted four days, while Darling said it was closed for several hours.

The plane’s owner, Chrono Aviation Inc., based in Montreal, Quebec City and Rimouski, offers chartered flights.

According to tracking website FlightAware, on March 25 the Pilatus PC-12/47 — a single-engine plane that can hold up to nine passengers — travelled from Quebec City’s Jean-Lesage International Airport to Bonaventure, then on to Schefferville and then Quaqtaq.

In total, that is approximately five hours of flight time.

According to Pilatus’s official website, the range for a PC-12 with two crew members and four passengers on a “long range cruise” is 3,222 kilometres.

David Sade, vice-president of operations at Chrono Aviation, said in an email to Nunatsiaq News that “this was a routine charter flight for a regular client.”

He said Chrono’s pilots are “thoroughly briefed on the prevailing weather conditions before and during a landing process.”

“When conditions for landing are not optimal,” he said, “our protocol prioritizes safety above all else.

“In such situations, our flight crews are trained to assess the conditions and make informed decisions based on established procedures and guidelines.”

Sade said the plane’s propeller sustained damage, and the engine will have to be replaced.

“To facilitate these repairs, maintenance personnel and equipment have been stationed at Kangirsuk to conduct onsite repairs,” he said.

“Our primary objective remains on ensuring the safe repair and return to service of the aircraft.”

This was the second of two recent landing mishaps at airports on the Ungava coast.

On March 30, an Air Inuit cargo flight experienced what the company called an “incident” while landing in Kangiqsujuaq. No injuries were reported.