Maintenance issue forces Iqaluit-bound flight to return to Ottawa
Canadian North airplane was in the air before an engine issue was discovered, spokesperson says
Iqaluit bound Canadian North Boeing 737 Flight 129 was forced to return to Ottawa after an issue with one of its engines was discovered. Seen here, is a jet of the same type as Flight 129. (File photo)
A Canadian North airplane headed to Iqaluit was forced to return to Ottawa on Sunday due to maintenance issue on one of its engines.
Flight 129 took off from Ottawa on Sunday morning. Soon after an issue was discovered with an engine, forcing the plane to return to Ottawa. The “aircraft was forced to return, but needed to burn fuel before landing because it was too heavy,” Canadian North spokesperson Annie Thomlinson said in an email on Tuesday.
The plane was in the air for approximately 90 minutes before it was deemed safe to land at the Ottawa airport.
While the plane circled Ottawa, “a passenger started to experience health issues causing an emergency to be declared on arrival” at the airport, Thomlinson said.
Paramedics met the plane on the tarmac to provide assistance to the passenger.
The flight was cancelled and the all 74 passenger passengers on board were able to rebook flights. Passengers scheduled to fly to Iqaluit departed Sunday and Monday. Passengers scheduled to fly to Iqaluit then Rankin Inlet had their flights rescheduled to Tuesday.
Why is this a news story?
The passenger was okay.
All 74 passengers were okay
Yes inconvenienced but all got to their destinations
Flights get cancelled all the time. Ever hear of blizzards cancelling flights?
No tickets available for flights to kugluktuk til August. Medical travelers stuck in yellow knife for over a week waiting for flights back home because no seats.
Remember, Nunatsiaq is an Ottawa based publication. They tend to gravitate toward ‘local’ stories.
Yousef, the newsroom is in Iqaluit, the last I checked.
Reporting the incident gets it on the record, Bert. The crowd behind the airline has a tidy monopoly and their airfare is incredibly expensive. An aircraft ‘going mechanical’ could indicate how profits are more important than maintaining aircraft.
I am a Aircraft Maintenance Engineer with Canadian North for over 30 years . Canadian North upholds the most extensive manufacturer approved maintenance programs within the country . In no way has Canadian North ever been out of compliance with the manufacturer or Transport Canada’s regulations. We pride ourselves on Safety . Your comment is ignorant and miss leading.
I was thinking that too, how is that newsworthy? happened before
These 1960s designs 737 always makes me nervous to get on one, especially when they are 30 plus years old.
You can tell by the winglets that the plane in the pic is not 30 years old
Your right C-GCNU is only 25.4 years old, still considered older, hangar queens… Canadian North aircraft aren’t new, even they’re -700’s are 16+ years old. All public data, FYI
The 737 is the most popular modern airliner. Designs have been upgraded and what Canadian flys are 300s,400, and 700s the oldest are between 30 to 40 years old so the 1980s. Flight decks are updated with modern technology. Planes make emergency landings regularly.