Three safe after engine fails near Tulita
Distress call rang in amidst Operation NUNAKPUT search and rescue exercise
Local fire fighters and RCMP officers escort two passengers and a pilot off the airstrip in Tulita, where their Cessna aircraft made an emergency landing July 16. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo |
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Monday, July 24, 2017
TULITA/FORT NORMAN
A military search and rescue exercise in the Sahtu last weekend was quickly overshadowed by a real-life emergency when a small Cessna aircraft nearly crashed outside Tulita on July 16.
The military and 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (1 CRPG) were wrapping up a day of training along the Mackenzie River as part of Operation NUNAKPUT when a distress call came over a local RCMP officer's radio around 5:45 p.m.
Within minutes, leaders of the rangers and 2nd Battalion, Royal 22 Regiment had huddled around an RCMP truck on the beach by Tulita and Andre Lavallee, chief warrant officer with 1 CRPG, was calling off the training mission.
"We cut the exercise pretty quickly," he said, calling the fast response by the rangers and infantry section "amazing."
Within minutes of receiving the news, rangers were seen preparing boats with fuel and equipment while the military packed into a truck and headed to the local airport.
According to Cpt. Melanie Parker of 1 CRPG, deputy commanding officer for Task Force NUNAKPUT, the call to local RCMP warned that a plane was in trouble approximately 35 kilometres southwest of Tulita.
The aircraft was headed from Norman Wells when it began experiencing engine failure, she said, and was attempting to glide into the nearest airport - in Tulita.
"Initially it looked like the plane was going to go down inland, like in the woods somewhere," Parker said.
She said the rangers immediately began assessing maps and determining what resources they could use to help if a search and rescue was needed.
Soon after, a small plane was seen flying overhead and dipped behind the trees.
According to Parker, the aircraft landed in Tulita at 6:05 p.m.
That's when confusion set in; this aircraft was not the one in distress.
"That initial plane that we saw that landed was just a regular, scheduled plane landing," Parker said.
"Then we received more information that the initial plane that the RCMP had called was still in distress."
Five minutes later, at 6:10 p.m., Parker said, the troubled plane landed safely in Tulita, carrying a pilot and two passengers.
Firefighters, RCMP, armed forces and rangers were on site, as well as a medic who assessed the passengers, Parker said.
No one was physically injured, she said.
But Lavallee, who was at the airport at the time, described a "shaken" crew.
"When the doors open," said Lavallee, who was at the airport on the plane's arrival, "the young passenger put their knees down."
Sgt. Archie Erigaktuk of the Tulita patrol of 1 CRPG, who was doling out instructions to rangers when the distress call came in, has dealt with emergency situations in Tulita before.
Just a few weeks ago, he went out as civilian during a storm to help an individual who had lost his kayak past Great Bear Rock, he said.
A few summers before that, Erigaktuk said he helped bring an older couple to shore when they became unsure about how safe it was to continue travelling down the water by canoe.
"A lot of people here don't hesitate to do anything for anyone, and that goes across the North," he said.
"Having a plane incident like this is rare, but we were, again, prepared due to the fact that we had the infantry guys, my rangers ready and (were) just finishing a search and rescue mission."
Jeff Nighswander, warrant officer with 1 CRPG, said the rangers from Tulita, whose expertise is their knowledge of the local surroundings, were already planning how to get to a possible crash site before RCMP could act.
"And that's what they're here for," he said. "Making the transition from training to real time - that was excellent."
The passengers of the plane declined an interview with News/North.
