Fort Good Hope (Aug 28/06) - A massive gathering was held here last week to celebrate lives cut short after the Aug. 16 crash of a North-Wright Airways plane.

Killed in the accident were passengers Farrah Grandjambe, Gary Grandjambe, Alfred Masuzumi, Kenny Stewart, Judith Pierrot and pilot Gordon Macleod.

The Cessna Skymaster 337 is a twin engine plane with propellers in front of and behind the cabin. The aircraft is said by some to have higher-than-average accident rates. - photo courtesy of MT-Propeller

"Farrah was my cousin,"said Stacey Grandjambe. "She was only a month older than me so we were very close."

Also related to Gary Grandjambe, Masuzumi and Pierrot, she said the deaths came as a tremendous shock."They were all really great people who enjoyed life."

With Fort Good Hope jammed with an estimated 1400 mourners, she said she liked what the community did.

"There was a traditional feast and handgames to celebrate their lives."

While residents remembered their loved ones, transportation safety investigators have visited the spot where the plane went down.

"We've completed our preliminary field work,"said Mike Tomm, a Transportation Safety Board investigator. "We did a site visit on the weekend (Aug. 19)."

He and a technical investigator will now try to figure out why the Cessna 337 went down on the way to Norman Wells from Fort Good Hope.

The accident occurred on the southern slope of Mount Effie about 50 km from the community.

"It's really more of a small, rocky ridge,"he said of the crash site. "The wreckage trail is fairly small so there's no indication of an in-flight explosion."

Tomm said he is not aware of any official warnings about the aircraft. Accident reports from the safety board often take a year or longer to complete and Tomm isn't willing to rush this case either.

"I can't draw any conclusions at this point,"he said. "It's a rugged part of the world and it does pose many challenges to pilots."

At least one of the airline's clients has concerns about North-Wright's safety record.

"Imperial removed North-Wright Airways from our list of approved contractors pending the results of the investigation,"said Imperial Oil spokesman Pius Rolheiser. "This was a temporary action."

There are currently no other open investigations into North-Wright, said Tomm.

The last occurred after one of the company's planes went down on Sept. 14, 2005 when the engine failed on the way from Tulita to the Wells.

"It was inconclusive,"said Tomm. "We did rule out any problems with the aircraft in terms of maintenance or operation."

North-Wright Airways manager David James declined to comment.