Nicole Williamson, one of the three survivors and the interviewee in the CBC News story, comes across as a very level-headed and well-spoken young woman, although I could not help feeling that she does not fully appreciate how miraculous her survival was. Typically, for a journalist, Peter Mansbridge, the CBC News anchor and interviewer, did not ask the right questions. Following the cabin crew`s announcement to prepare for landing, did Nicole hear the wheels being lowered? Did she see the ground prior to impact? (I read earlier that Gabrielle, the young girl who survived, saw buildings at the Resolute airport just before the impact.) From what Nicole said, it appears that there was no change in engine noise during the approach, indicating that there was no attempt at a go-around. Putting it all together and reading between the lines, it does appear that the crew was intending to land on Rwy 35.
Also, it was not made clear in the interview that the aircraft impacted the hillside above the runway in a direction roughly parallel to the runway. Far too much is being made of the role the military played in the rescue. Of course, it was fortunate that they had helicopters and a field hospital at the runway 2 km from the crash site. However, no doubt there was a civilian helicopter or two and ATVs available at the Polar Continental Shelf Program, the Canadian government logistics organization supporting scientific fieldwork in the Arctic, which is based at the Resolute airport during the summer field season. These assets could have effected the rescue nearly as well as the military.
It`s far more pertinent to ask, what would the military have been able to accomplish if the accident had occurred hundreds of miles from Resolute?