Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 11/02) - The captain on the Buffalo Airways DC-4 that crashed at the Diavik mine site late last month was a highly-experienced pilot with more than 14,000 hours in the air.

The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash. Investigators were not sent to the site.

The large four-engine airplane landed three feet shy of the runway at Diavik, smashing into a berm at the runway threshold Aug. 28. The force of the impact buckled the right landing gear, causing the right wing to smash into the runway and separate from the aircraft.

"It's like hitting a curb with your car," said John Pearson, a TSB investigator in Edmonton.

The plane landed after knocking off a light bulb on the second last approach light. It completely severed the final navigational light, which was four feet tall. The landing speed for a DC-4 is about 190 km/h.

Visibility at the time was 15 miles plus -- or unlimited, said Pearson. An 18-knot wind was blowing almost straight down the runway, he added.

The chief pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash. Pearson said the captain of the flight was Ron Lippert, while Dave Moody was sitting in the right seat.

Pearson said all indications point to the airplane operating correctly at the time of landing.

"Their theory (the pilots') is that they just undershot on the runway, undershot on the approach," he said.

"Whether it actually occurred that way, we'll try to get more of a sense from trying to look at the information we have."

At Diavik, the runway was closed for less than 24 hours, said Pierre Leblanc, company vice-president for corporate affairs. The charred fuselage was cleared from the runway the next day, and is still sitting at Diavik.

The plane, loaded with groceries and building materials, caught fire after the crash. Diavik emergency services put out the blaze.

"The cargo, as I understand it, wasn't overly damaged," said Leblanc. But "we lost the ice cream," he added