Pilot disputes engine fire report
Buffalo Airways president was flying plane with engine troubles
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 19, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Buffalo Airways president "Buffalo" Joe McBryan is disputing a report one of his plane's engines caught fire en route to Yellowknife from Hay River Wednesday morning.
Buffalo Airways DC-3s were at this summer's Yellowknife airshow on July 12. The plane with call sign C-GWZS, was reported by Transport Canada to have been involved in an emergency landing in Hay River shortly after takeoff on Dec. 17, with an engine reportedly on fire. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo |
Information posted to Transport Canada's flight incident report database Wednesday said a DC-3 requested to return to Hay River Airport seven minutes after a 7:26 a.m. takeoff, due to engine troubles. The report goes on to say one of the airport's radio observers witnessed an engine fire, called fire rescue and the fire was extinguished by Buffalo Airways personnel.
McBryan was the one flying the plane carrying 16 passengers, and said the report is inaccurate.
"I didn't declare an emergency, I didn't ask for priority landing status, I turned around and landed and somebody panicked and called the fire department," he said, saying he could see the problem out of his window.
"I could see an engine had a cracked cylinder and it was spitting oil on a hot exhaust pipe, which was spitting smoke. It's happened before so I knew what it was doing.
"That part in the report about the fire (being) extinguished by Buffalo Airways – that was me up on a ladder with a flashlight looking in there to see where the smoke was coming from – maybe they thought the flashlight was the fire, I don't know," he said.
Megan Holsapple, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation, confirmed it was Hay River Airport Manager Kelly O'Connor who called the fire department when the plane landed but couldn't elaborate further.
Jon Lee, western regional manager for the Transportation Safety Board, told Yellowknifer what Buffalo Airways experienced was a "mandatory reportable event" and his organization is gathering information to determine exactly what happened.
"The plane did experience a loss of power on its left engine and it did return to Hay River," he said.
"There was some smoke … as far as what we've been told, there was just smoke, no fire to the point that we know of."
Multiple media outlets reported Wednesday that Buffalo Airways had suffered an engine fire based on the Transport Canada flight incident database, which comes with a disclaimer saying its reports "contain preliminary, unconfirmed data which can be subject to change."
The passengers affected by the incident were able to board a separate plane and arrived in Yellowknife with an hour delay.
McBryan said he believed the DC-3, which can hold 27 passengers, would be back in service within a day.
Lee says he's waiting for a maintenance report from Buffalo Airways for exact details of the engine failure before he completes his investigation.
This particular plane was made in 1942.
