An investigation into Saturday’s airplane mishap on Lakeland Bay (Rainy Lake) is still continuing but the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has pretty much ruled out mechanical failure for causing the plane to tip over.
The 10-seater, single-engine Otter float plane, owned by Fort Frances Sportsmen Airways Ltd., flipped over on the bay around 10 a.m. with eight people on board–three American couples, the pilot, and a mechanic.
Vic Gerden, regional manager with the Transportation Safety Board in Winnipeg, said investigators have talked to all the people on the plane and should be filing a report sometime this week.
Gerden also said there wasn’t much need to send an investigation team to the accident site.
“I don’t think there was any mechanical issues with the accident,” he remarked. “It seemed to be with the wind and water conditions so there wasn’t a lot to be gained by sending a team out there.”
That seems to concur with Ron Sutton’s story, who watched the mishap unfold from the window of the Canadian Wilderness Outpost office.
“The wind lifted the left wing up,” he said. “It just rolled him right over and put the nose in the water.
“We had a crash boat by the dock–it’s a good policy,” Sutton added. “As soon as it happened, we were there [on the lake].”
By the time the “crash boat” reached the plane, everyone on board was already in the water.
Sutton noted since the back doors of the plane were closed, it didn’t sink to the bottom. It just “floated like a bobber,” he said, until it drifted to the edge of the bay.
No one seemed hurt although one woman was taken to La Verendrye hospital for examination.
Meanwhile, Gerden’s investigators have to determine if Saturday’s accident brings up any safety issues, which isn’t an easy question.
“Normally, if a float airplane has problems with wind, it’s pretty difficult to answer,” he said.
Gerden stressed the board’s investigation was not to lay blame or liability for the accident but to see if any and all safety issues were addressed.
“The bottom line is if there is any concern about a break of regulations, Transport Canada has a mandate to answer that,” he noted.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
