Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 24/00) - Passengers aboard a First Air flight that skidded off the end of the Iqaluit Airport runway at high speed more than 16 months ago will have to wait a little while longer to find out what caused the accident, according to Jim Harris, a public affairs advisor for the Transportation Safety Board.

The draft copy of the report detailing the events of the Dec. 4, 1998 incident is nearly complete and almost ready to send to the federal board for approval, says Harris.

Marc Fernandez, the TSB employee who lead the investigation in 1998, speculated at the time of the accident that a freight imbalance may have been the cause.

"If you don't place things properly, it could have imbalanced the aircraft ... and affected the performance of the machine," said Fernandez, in December 1998.

At the time, the pilot and the co-pilot aborted take-off after two attempts to leave the ground.

Because of their high speed -- approximately 200 km/h -- it was impossible for them to bring the aircraft to a complete stop and they only managed to slow it down before it went off the runway.

Travelling at about 100 km/h, the plane, which was carrying the three passengers and four crew members, slammed into the rocks at the end of the airstrip. One of the aircraft's wings was torn off, two propellers were destroyed, two main gears were ripped off, and the plane's nosewheel came off.

Luckily, all seven people walked away from the crash and with the exception of one minor injury.

Paddy Doyle, the director of flight operations for First Air, refused to speculate on what led to the incident and said he'd deal with the report and its ramifications when the document was made public.

"When we get it, we'll react accordingly," said Doyle, who as Harris explained, will be given the chance to review the report once it has been approved by the safety board.

"It goes to persons with a direct interest, the crew or the people whose names or companies are mentioned in the report," said Harris, from his office in Quebec.

"They get a copy of the draft report mainly for fairness and to secure accuracy," he said.

Those people will be given 30 days to look over the accident report, but Harris says they can for an extension if needed.

Once they've finished, their comments will be sent back to the safety board for analysis, final preparations will be made and the report will then be released to the public.

When asked why it took nearly 18 months for the details to be made known, Harris said it was simply a matter of work load.

"It's the work load and so on. It takes time to get things done and to get the results back. It adds up," said Harris.