Plane falls from its perch
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Nov 10/00) - A plane which has greeted visitors to Inuvik for the past five years has fallen from its perch.
The Cessna 170 fell from its spot next to the Western Arctic Regional Visitor's Centre and was moved last week to Boot Lake, said John Cournoyea, regional manager for Parks and Tourism.
"It looks pretty bad," Cournoyea said.
"There's a section between the tail and where the fuselage ends that got crumpled," he said.
"It just looks bad because that particular section of the plane is the weakest."
Cournoyea said the plane's future is uncertain.
"My opinion is there's not very much (damage) but somebody that does do that type of airframe work and bodywork might have a different opinion," he said. "One issue is obviously the cost of repairing it. The third issue is that it has fallen over twice. It doesn't seem like it would be a prudent thing to take that approach again."
Cournoyea said if the plane is put back up, the mounting will likely be quite different. "People do like it. It catches your eye when you're coming up the road there, which is what we want."
