Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

Chuck Parker, president of Air Tindi, left, sits with John Pearson, the investigator-in-charge of the Air Tindi plane crash investigation as well as Cathy Menard, the chief coroner of the NWT, and Insp. Kevin Violet, the officer in charge of the North District RCMP. This was the panel that delivered the names of the dead, and fielded questions from the media yesterday. - James Rubec/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two Yellowknife residents have been confirmed as the deceased in Tuesday's plane crash outside of Lutsel K'e.

Matthew Bromley: Air Tindi pilot killed in the crash.

Timothy Harris, 54, and Matthew Bromley, 28, were aboard an Air Tindi Cessna 208B that crashed into a cliff on the Pethei Peninsula before noon on Tuesday. The peak rises close to 180 metres out of Great Slave Lake.

Bromley, a lifelong Yellowknifer, had worked for Air Tindi for seven years. Air Tindi's president, Chuck Parker, shared his thoughts about his employee at a press conference held at RCMP headquarters in Yellowknife yesterday.

"He grew up with this company, starting on the ramp. We remember his happy smiles and his focus on the work," said Parker, after thanking all of those involved in the rescue of the two crash survivors, the aviation community and Northerners as a whole.

Harris was an employee with the NWT Power Corporation. Calls to the power corp. were not returned by press deadline.

The survivors of the crash, both from Lutsel K'e, are injured but in stable condition in an Edmonton Hospital. Bernice Marlowe and Sheldon Catholique were medevaced to Stanton Territorial Hospital Tuesday evening after being rescued from the crash site by plane.

Tuesday's crash involved flight AT200, a scheduled flight to Lutsel K'e from Yellowknife. The downed aircraft departed Yellowknife at 11:03 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive at 11:45 a.m., when it crashed prior to arrival about 40 km west of Lutsel K'e.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board spent Wednesday at the crash site. From what they could determine, the flight hit the west face of a cliff on the Pethei Peninsula, making contact with its landing gear at high speed.

John Pearson, the lead investigator from the board, detailed what happened next.

"On contact the plane lost its cargo box, propeller, and its landing gear, some of those parts fell 600 feet off the face of the cliff ... (the wreck) came to rest inverted ... one of the wings actually came through the cabin. We're very fortunate that we didn't have more fatalities," he said.

Pearson added that the plane appeared to be in control when it initially crashed into some trees atop the cliff. Controlled flight into terrain is on a special watch list for crash investigators. Other factors like weather, crew and maintenance records will also be looked at in the investigation.

At the time of the accident, there was a low cloud ceiling and light rain, which has led to speculation that weather may have played a role.

Air Tindi's own planes and its sister company's helicopters located the wreckage. Search and rescue aircraft scrambled from CFB Trenton, Ont., were subsequently called off.

A team of emergency medical personnel bushwhacked to the crash site with the help of Lutsel K'e community members who knew the lay of the land.

Among those expressing condolences in the aftermath of yet another plane crash was Premier Floyd Roland.

"There are no words that can begin to express the devastation that we feel today as a territory. In a summer when one tragic plane crash was too much, we have had three," he stated in a press release.

On Thursday afternoon Dennis Bevington, Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic, made a statement to the House of Commons on the issue of Northern aviation safety.

Bevington, spoke of the four plane crashes in the North in recent weeks that have left 16 dead, and said, "Last year government officials promised to beef-up Transport Canada's aviation safety arm ... my constituents want to know if this government has kept its promises."

On Aug. 20, a First Air flight crashed en route to Resolute from Yellowknife, killing 12 of 15 people on board, including three Yellowknife crew members.

A little over a month later, on Sept. 22, an Arctic Sunwest Twin Otter crash in Old Town claimed the two pilots. Seven passengers escaped.

The next day, a Cessna aircraft flying to Wrigley from Fort Simpson went down with the pilot on board, but he survived.

A team from the Transportation Safety Board is determining how to transport the Air Tindi wreckage back to Yellowknife to continue the investigation. The remains of the deceased are being flown to Edmonton. A post-mortem is planned for sometime today.

Pilot's Monument in Yellowknife had fresh flowers and candles resting beneath it on Wednesday.

A memorial service is to be held at the Adlair Aviation hangar Saturday at 2 p.m.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.