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IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - A man who jumped 23,000 feet to his death from an aircraft may have been suffering from depression.

Julian Tologanak, 20, of Cambridge Bay died when he forced the cabin door of a King Air 200 aircraft open in mid flight and exited the aircraft between Yellowknife and his home community.

On April 14, RCMP were called to a Yellowknife hotel where Tologanak was staying and where officers determined he may have been suffering from depression.

In the NWT capital for a hockey tournament, Tologanak was detained by RCMP under the Mental Health Act and sent to Stanton Territorial Hospital, according to a report by Canwest Media.

The hospital later contacted Paul Laserich, owner of Adlair Air, on request of Tologanak's mother. A friend of the Tologanak family - Laserich was raised in Cambridge Bay - he said he agreed to transport Tologanak home.

Laserich said Tologanak's mother had called him the day before (Tuesday, April 14) and asked if he could fly Tologanak home since he had been beaten up in Yellowknife recently.

Tologanak was then sent by taxi to the airport and put on the fateful flight home.

The flight was not an approved medivac.

"We were just helping his mother get her son home," said Laserich.

At 4:30 p.m. MDT the plane's crew called in an emergency situation about an unruly passenger on the flight.

Cambridge Bay RCMP met the King Air 200 aircraft on arrival and learned the passenger had opened the exit door about 150 km southwest of Cambridge Bay and jumped out of the aircraft. The two-person crew had tried to stop him but were unable to do so.

Despite the decompression of the cabin at that altitude, the crew was able to land the plane in Cambridge Bay without injury to its members or the second passenger, a woman.

A spokesperson for Transport Canada said the aircraft's safety mechanisms should have prevented the door from opening.

"Normally, pressurization inside the King Air 200 would prevent an individual from opening a door at 23,000 feet (7000 metres)," said Susan McLennan.

McLennan said Transport Canada was verifying that Adlair's operations and procedures are in compliance with Canadian aviation safety regulations such as making sure the flight crew was properly trained and the aircraft properly maintained.

However, McLennan added, "The priority for pilots at all times is to fly and land their aircraft safely." She said flights with 20 or more passengers require flight attendants to look after passengers.

News/North spoke to a maintenance mechanic who works for another airline and has years of experience on the King Air 200 aircraft. The mechanic said opening the door on such a plane is not complicated and the door has diagrams on it to explain how to do it. This is in case the plane makes an emergency landing and needs to be evacuated quickly. You push and hold down a mechanical button and pull a lever.

"It's definitely a two-hand operation," the mechanic said.

However, the mechanic wondered why the damage to the plane was not more extensive. At 7,000 metres up there is a huge difference in air pressure between the cabin and the exterior of the plane. He said, when Tologanak opened the door, it should have caused an explosive decompression which would have ripped the door off its hinges.

"I did the math and there's over 10,000 pounds of pressure on that door," said the mechanic, who did not want to be identified. When asked about what the mechanic said, Laserich refused to comment.

RCMP in Cambridge Bay is co-ordinating with the hamlet's search and rescue personnel to look for the missing man. He jumped over an area which is difficult to access by land so the searching has to be done mostly by air. The search, which tarted Thursday April 16, was delayed by poor visibility.

The RCMP is treating the incident as a probable suicide.

- with files from Mike W. Bryant