Emergency crews gather at an access point to Great Slave Lake along Highway 3 Thursday morning after an Air Tindi single-engine Cessna Caravan aircraft heading to Fort Simpson from Yellowknife was forced to make an emergency landing on Great Slave Lake. Approximately a dozen emergency vehicles had set up a search and rescue operation at the site. - Randi Beers/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is opening a preliminary investigation into why an airplane en route to Fort Simpson from Yellowknife Wednesday morning made an emergency landing on the iced over waters of Great Slave Lake.

An ambulance sits behind the Great Slave Helicopters base around the time RCMP confirmed five passengers and pilot from a downed Air Tindi Cessna had been airlifted by helicopter to Yellowknife. - Randi Beers/NNSL Photo

The Air Tindi single-engine Cessna Caravan took off from Yellowknife at 6:44 a.m., according to Transport Canada's flight incident report database.

Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, when the aircraft was still climbing, the report says the pilot requested clearance to return to Yellowknife due to icing conditions. The pilot declared mayday 15 minutes later and made an emergency landing on Great Slave Lake.

RCMP received the call by 7:30 a.m. and set up an emergency command centre along Highway 3 near Boundary Creek, northwest of Yellowknife, soon after.

Multiple Behchoko and Yellowknife RCMP vehicles, an RCMP mobile command unit, at least three ambulances from Behchoko and Yellowknife, Canadian military vehicles carrying snowmobiles and off-road vehicles and an Air Tindi van were all stationed at the site.

RCMP search and rescue were able to reach the site at 11:30 a.m. using snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles and the plane's five passengers and pilot were evacuated to Yellowknife by helicopter.

"They were roughly 10 kilometres as the crow flies from (Boundary Creek) so it was a good little ways," said Cpl. Todd Scaplen.

"We utilized the Yellowknife fire department's all-terrain (vehicles) and their equipment so we were able to get to them ... they had a little campfire going and they were taking it all in stride."

He said the area of Great Slave Lake where the plane landed is "littered with small islands" and the group had made its way to one of those islands to set up the campfire.

Scaplen confirmed thin ice was a concern for his team as ice in Great Slave Lake's bays around Yellowknife have only reached a safe thickness in the past week.

"There are still spots on the lake with thin ice and open water," he said.

"We had to make sure we were safe getting to where they were."

Back in Yellowknife, a woman who identified herself as a family member of one of the passengers waited for an update at Great Slave Helicopters just after noon.

She said the flight left early because the pilot wanted to "beat the freezing rain."

Although Air Tindi's press release said it was a scheduled flight, according to the company's website there is no scheduled flight from Yellowknife to Fort Simpson on Thursday mornings.

Al Martin, president of Air Tindi, said the plane was originally scheduled to fly Wednesday evening but the flight was postponed due to weather.

He said it would surprise him if he had learned one of his company's pilots had risked flying in bad weather.

"We deal with bad weather conditions in the North," said Martin. "Ultimately, the pilot makes the call based on input from other sources."

A representative for the Transportation Safety Board confirmed it is conducting a preliminary investigation that could lead to a full investigation into the incident.

Jill Ritchot, a spokesperson for Transport Canada, confirmed Thursday afternoon in an e-mail that the department is sending an observer to verify Air Tindi is following Canadian aviation regulations.

"The department will not hesitate to take immediate action if any safety issues are identified," she stated in the e-mail.

The Canadian military dispatched a Hercules aircraft from Winnipeg shortly after 8 a.m., after hearing the Air Tindi pilot had called in a mayday due to icing.

"The pilot has made safe forced landing, but at the moment when he calls in a mayday, that triggers some action from the rescue co-ordination centre," said Capt. Alexandre Cadieux, public affairs officer with the Canadian Air Division.

Cadieux said the aircraft carries a team of search and rescue specialists who carry medical gear and would have had the ability to parachute onto the ice and provide emergency support to the survivors.

He later confirmed by the time the Hercules arrived at the scene local rescue search and rescue had the situation under control and his team did not need to be deployed.

"The mission was cancelled prior to getting involved," he told Yellowknifer.

"Everybody was OK and they didn't need any expertise from our search and rescue technicians."

- with files from Cody Punter

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