Small northern airlines unsafe?

The Canadian Press reported this week that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is raising questions about the safety of small northern air carriers.

The safety board has just released a report containing the results of their investigation into a crash at Fort Liard, NWT, on Oct. 16, 2001, involving a small plane carrying a pilot and five passengers returning to the community from a pipeline-related signing ceremony in Yellowknife.

After running into heavy snow on his approach to Fort Liard, the pilot missed the landing area and flew his aircraft into the ground instead.

Three passengers died, while the pilot and two other passengers were hospitalized. The pilot still suffers from amnesia.

The safety board report says Transport Canada’s safety standards for small northern airlines may not be high enough, and that such planes should be outfitted with ground-sensing equipment.

The report also said that pilots with small northern airlines are often too inexperienced.