Transport Canada is looking into the cause of a small aircraft’s plight shortly after takeoff from Prince Albert’s airport.
A 40-year-old man and his daughter, 13, were not hurt when the single-engine airplane the man was piloting went down shortly after takeoff around 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon. There were no other passengers.
The two emerged unhurt, according to official reports from local paramedics who were called to the scene.
The cause was either mechanical or pilot error, said Prince Albert Municipal Airport manager Corey Nygaard.
“We investigate from a safety-management standpoint of what may or may not have been wrong with the airport to have contributed to it (the crash) and so far my investigation does not indicate any issues with the airport itself,” he said on Tuesday morning.
Unofficially, Nygaard said he believes the plane was headed to a northern lake.
The main runway had to be closed until the wreckage could be removed, which took until about 5:45 p.m. on Monday.
“Obviously you can’t just go and move it: you have to take photographs and then get the investigation information down before it can be moved and Transportation Canada then gives you permission to move the aircraft,” Nygaard explained.
Nygaard said the airport’s role is to notify airmen of what happened and how long the delay will be. It’s then up to the pilots to decide whether they’ll reroute flights or find alternate runways at the airport to land during that time.
“Unfortunately two aircrafts were delayed at the terminal building without being able to take off until about 5:45 p.m.,” he said.
“We tried to get it operational as fast as we could, following the rules and making sure it was safe for everybody involved.”
The majority of Prince Albert airport’s traffic is between Saskatoon and Prince Albert or Prince Albert and northern Saskatchewan communities.