Two people bound for Whati aboard a Cessna 185 aircraft were uninjured after a loss of power forced an emergency landing near the Yellowknife Airport Tuesday morning, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says.
The aircraft, owned by Ahmic Air, took off from Yellowknife’s Back Bay around 11:15 a.m., Jared Doell, an investigator with the TSB’s air branch, told NNSL Media.
“Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft experienced a loss of power and conducted a forced approach into trees,” said Doell.
No injuries were reported to the TSB, confirming earlier statements from Yellowknife RCMP indicating the plane’s occupants had not been harmed during the landing.
Doell said the plane was in the air for a little more than five minutes before making the emergency landing “one mile north” of the Yellowknife Golf Club.
Mounties, paramedics, the Yellowknife Fire Department (YKFD), Yellowknife Airport Fire and Rescue and MED blocked off the road leading to Yellowknife Golf Club around 11:30 a.m.
The road, located near the Yellowknife airport, sits beside a highway maintenance site.
According to Yellowknife RCMP spokesperson Julie Plourde, the plane's occupants were transported from the landing site via helicopter, as the area was not accessible by road.
The TSB will not be sending investigators to the capital, according to Doell.
Instead, Doell said the board will work with the plane's operator to determine the cause of the power loss.
Ahmic Air owner Steve Jeffery told NNSL Media both the pilot and the passenger “walked away from the emergency landing without any personal harm.”
He said the plane remains intact and will be transported back to Yellowknife.
“We will be working with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada to determine the cause of the emergency,” added Jeffery.
Almost a year to the date of Tuesday's forced landing, an Ahmic Air-owned Cessna 185 aircraft made a "precautionary landing" on Bay Back on Feb. 14, 2019.
After noticing one of the plane's cables "wasn't doing what it was supposed to do," the pilot returned to Bay Back, landing beside Ahmic Air's hangar, Jeffery said at the time.
Updates to follow.