Nerve-racking flight causes Inuvialuit Regional Corporation to re-think how it travels
Aklak Air flight from Inuvik to Paulatuk turned around Monday after right engine malfunctioned
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation says it's going to change how it flies after a nerve-racking experience for some travellers on a charter flight between two communities in the Northwest Territories.
According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the right engine of the plane flying from Inuvik to Paulatuk began having issues and an engine shutdown was performed.
"The pilots immediately took action to do what they need to do when they are operating on one motor," said Duane Smith, chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
"It was just like hitting an air pocket, small air pocket. It didn't seem very noticeable."
The corporation was set to travel to Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok and Sachs Harbour from Monday to Wednesday for their annual corporate tour.
On board the Aklak Air charter flight were nine senior managers for the corporation, in addition to the two pilots.
Smith said the flight left at 9:35 Monday morning, and they were about three-quarters of the way to Paulatuk when the pilots informed them of the issue, and immediately turned back to Inuvik.
"Everybody gets a little bit nervous during situations like that … Some were nervous and some continued to chat away about business."
A media release from the Inuvik Fire Department and territorial Department of Infrastructure says the fire department, Advanced Medical Solutions, RCMP and Department of National Defence were all at the airport on standby for the landing to provide assistance as needed.
Smith said they landed safely, and were offered counselling services right away.
'Eye opener' for corporation
Although everyone ended up being safe, the experience has made an impact on the corporation. It will be reviewing its policy on travelling in the future.
"This has been an eye opener for the organization I guess in regards of how we provide activity updates to our communities," said Smith.
"Because of the logistics and the geographical range we are covering, it's always been the practice to utilize one plane to be cost efficient."
Smith said going forward, they will look into not having all senior levels of management or elected officials flying together on the same plane.
The corporate tour has now been postponed until further notice.
TSB working with airline
The Transportation Safety Board said they are working with the airline "as they do their mechanical determination for the problem "
Jon Lee, western regional manager of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said the right engine of the plane has been removed and a new one will be installed.
He said this type of engine is robust and has an excellent safety record, and that while there have been issues "from time to time," they have been rare.
CBC reached out to Aklak Air in Inuvik for comment and were directed to the Kenn Borek Air Ltd. corporate office in Calgary, which did not respond as of publication time.
Aklak Air was formed in 1994 as a joint venture between the Inuvialuit Development Corporation and Kenn Borek Air Ltd.