Airport hit with runway problem
Repairs planned for future after Canadian North flight doesn't land
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Thursday, April 30, 2015
INUVIK
A problem with land settling at the runway at the Mike Zubko Airport has returned after a two-year absence.
This small dip on the Inuvik airport runway caused Canadian North to cancel a flight to Inuvik last week until it could be evaluated. The problem is expected to be fixed this summer. - photo courtesy of Nick Hurst
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Periodically, the runway "dips" during warmer weather, said Delia Chesworth, the director of airports for the Department of Transportation (DOT).
"We have a 6,000-foot runway in Inuvik and we have an area in that runway that is subject to a little bit of settlement," she said. "Essentially, that's the situation we're currently in."
A decision has been made to restrict the runway to 4,900 feet while the DOT considers its options to fix the depression and for the weather to improve. The remaining 1,100 feet can be used for taxiing, she said.
The last time the problem recurred was in 2013, and a temporary fix was done at that time.
"We understand this is a problem that predated our ownership of the airport," she said. "We took on the airport in 1995."
Chesworth said other media reports about the situation contained several errors.
"It's not a sinkhole, it's a slight depression," she said. "Sinkholes generally have no soil underneath them. I explained that a number of times."
The runway issue prompted Canadian North airline to postpone landing a passenger jet in Inuvik until it had a chance to take a closer look at the issue.
Kelly Lewis, the manager of communications for Canadian North, said the company had been advised of the issue on April 21, and made the decision to fly only to Norman Wells the following day until it received more information.
Passengers heading for Inuvik were told of the postponed leg of the flight before boarding, Lewis said.
Flights resumed on April 23 after the company determined the runway was still fully serviceable, he said.
"We're only going to operate flights if it's absolutely safe. We chose to cancel the flight (into Inuvik) yesterday so our flight operations could review the situation," Lewis said.
"They looked at the revised length of the runway that was available, and they determined it would fit well within our operating requirements. So we are resuming our 737 flights."
Lewis said "We've known for some time that there is a dip on the runway, and up until now I guess it hasn't been much of an issue. It crossed the threshold yesterday of where we wanted to take a look at it, so that's what we did."
The runway problem didn't affect any other flights.
"Canadian North decided not to fly into Inuvik (on the 23rd) and they did so for business reasons," said Chesworth. "We gave them the parameters that the runway was open to, and based on their business operations they chose not to fly in there.
"It's a problem that needs to be addressed," she said. "It's a manageable issue, and it's an important issue. It's one we take very seriously. Right now, the best solution is to fix it from time to time. We are continuing to investigate it, and we expect that we will have some geo-technical equipment on the ground very shortly to do some extra work."
Chesworth said a temporary solution will be in place once again this summer.
In 2013, similar work at the airport cost around $200,000. The latest round of repairs will have to be tendered before an estimate of how much the repairs will cost this time.
