TUKTOYAKTUK - An Aklak Air Twin Otter plane flying from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk skidded off the runway as it landed on June 2, causing minor damage to the tail end as it scraped against the gravel.

There were 13 passengers and two crew members on board and none of them reported any injuries.

Passenger John Fraser recalled the plane fishtailing in the air a few times before landing hard in the ditch

"A wall of gravel came up on the window on my side almost like a hailstorm," said Fraser, who flies back and forth between Inuvik and Tuk every week.

The RCMP was called to the airport around 1:20 p.m. and left shortly after. Aklak Air is now conducting its own investigation and collecting statements from passengers, crew and aircraft experts to submit a report to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada by early this week.

Sean Loutitt, Aklak Air's vice-president of operations, said the company is looking at mechanical issues, wind gusting and the pilot's landing technique as possible factors in the incident.

"One of the possibilities is that the pilot essentially made a mistake on landing and that's why it went into the ditch, but, again, because we're doing our investigation we can't say so for sure," Loutitt said from his office in Calgary.

"We are in the middle of the investigation and obviously we're going to do whatever we can do to make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

Fraser said only about 10 seconds passed from the time the plane was in the air until it skidded into the ditch. He called the experience "unexpected and unpleasant."

He said all passengers waited in the plane, which was stuck in the mud, for about 10 minutes until airport officials brought out wooden pallets for them to walk across to the airport.

"It all happened so quickly, you don't really have time to think," he said. "We all burst out laughing as soon as the thing came to a stop - more out of relief than anything else ... I'm sure everyone was scared."