Trout Lake (Nov 10/06) - Three residents of Trout Lake recently experienced a harrowing plane landing.

The plane the men were in overshot the community's runway and crashed approximately 150 meters later in a ditch.

Gilbert Falopree, Craig Pierre and David Jumbo were returning to Trout Lake from High Level, Alta., on Oct. 29 aboard a Piper Navajo operated by Peace Air.

The men had been attending a funeral service for Pierre's uncle in Meander River. The plane had clear weather during the afternoon flight, said Falopree.

Everything seemed to be alright until the plane came in for the landing.

"We came down pretty fast," said Falopree, 30.

Pierre said he realized there was a problem when the plane passed the place where airplanes usually park after they land.

The plane first touched down nearly halfway down the airstrip and then ran out of runway coming to a dead stop, said Falopree.

The chair Falopree was in broke off the floor and slid forward crushing his legs into the next seat before sliding back again knocking against Pierre's shoulder.

"My legs got banged up pretty good," he said.

Falopree scraped his leg and later experienced swelling and bruising. Pierre's shoulder swelled up and has been sore. Feeling has been slowly coming back into his hand which was numb after the accident. A nurse said he might have pinched or damaged a nerve, said Pierre, 26.

When the plane stopped, Falopree turned to look at David Jumbo, who was sitting behind him, and asked in Slavey if he was alright. Jumbo said yes.

The three men opened the emergency exit and climbed out of the plane with the two pilots.

They were all taken to the hospital in Fort Simpson where they were checked that night and the next morning before being returned to Trout Lake.

Runway conditions may have been a factor in the crash.

During the plane's landing, weather conditions in Trout Lake were clear with a 10-knot cross wind, said John Cottreau, a spokesperson with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

There was one inch of compacted snow on the gravel runway. The board has reviewed the accident and will not be doing a further investigation, said Cottreau.

The crash was caused by ice and snow on the runway that prevented the pilots from being able to slow the plane down in time, said Albert Cooper, the owner of Peace Air which is based in Peace River.

Based on their own investigation, Copper said the company will be making a number of changes.

"We are going to change some of the training for our pilots," he said.

Peace Air pilots will have their training reinforced for landing on gravel runways in ice and snow conditions.

Peace Air doesn't fly to Trout Lake often, said Cooper. The flight in question was a charter. Cooper was unable to say if the two pilots had flown to Trout Lake before.

"We are so thankful that no one was hurt," Cooper said.

The plane was substantially damaged in the crash. Cooper expects it will be a write off.

Both Falopree and Pierre are questioning the pilots' judgement. Falopree blames the accident on pilot error. "It shouldn't have happened."

Pierre agreed: "I don't know what they were thinking."

Pierre is thankful his injuries weren't any worse because he has new responsibilities.

The morning of the accident he found out that his partner had given birth to a baby boy in Yellowknife.

"The morning of the flight I was just happy I was a father," he said.

Pierre even told the pilots his good news.

"I'm just glad it didn't end up worse off than it did," said Pierre.