Fort Smith (July 05/04) - No cause has yet been found for June's fatal float plane crash on the Taltson River, and it does not look like the investigation into the accident will go further.

"There will be no public report and no findings as to the cause and contributing factors," says Bill Kemp, the chief investigator of the accident with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).

Kemp says further investigation is not likely to advance aviation safety, the basic guideline for whether or not a full public report is produced.

Instead, a letter to the NWT's chief coroner will outline the known facts of the crash.

Those facts will also be available to the public on the TSB's database.

"Basically, the airplane touched down and went inverted almost instantly," says the Edmonton-based Kemp.

None of the information gathered so far points to one particular cause, although Kemp notes gusting moderate-to-strong winds may have been a factor.

The circumstances of the Taltson crash are not uncommon for such accidents, he says.

"This type of accident has occurred in the past."

Two Albertans died June 7 when the chartered float plane crashed at a fishing camp on the Taltson River, about 70km north of Fort Smith. The pilot and a passenger survived.

The Cessna 185 was owned and operated by Big River Air of Fort Smith.

Of approximately 4,000 incidents reported to the TSB each year, the board proceeds to a full investigation in only two or three per cent of cases, the spokesperson says.

In some accidents, a cause may never be determined, the spokesperson says. "Sometimes you just don't know."

It is still possible the chief coroner of the NWT may conduct an inquest into the crash.

However, Percy Kinney says it's too early to say, although he notes the TSB are the experts in investigating such accidents.

"If they can't find a cause of the crash, it's pretty much unlikely I would with my limited expertise," he says.