alph2z

Plane crashes after takeoff in northern Saskatchewan. 25 people on board.

RCMP are on the scene of a plane crash in northern Saskatchewan.

Fond du Lac RCMP responded to reports of a downed aircraft near the local airport at about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Police say the plane, carrying approximately 22 passengers along with 3 crew members, crashed shortly after takeoff from Fond du Lac. Officers spotted the aircraft less than a kilometer from the airstrip.

RCMP say there are reports of multiple injuries, but there does not appear to be any fatalities.

Local emergency responders are assisting as well as RCMP members from Stony Rapids. Police say additional emergency rescue resources are on the way to the scene from the Royal Canadian Air Force and Search and Rescue.

A spokesperson with the Transportation Safety Board says a team of investigators is expected to arrive at the crash site Thursday.


https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/plane-c...ewan-1.3720976

Airbubba

Plane carrying 25 people crashes near northern Saskatchewan airport - Saskatoon - CBC News

alph2z

Re. : "Fond-du-Lac resident Raymond Sanger was at the community's bingo hall with his son when his son got a call about the crash. The pair rushed to the site and saw a few people who were trapped and had to be wrestled from the bent aircraft."

He also said on a phone call to CBC TV reporter that there were fuel leaks.

I'm surprised it was not colder than -9 C at 6 pm. FTR, flaps look like set for take-off and not retracted.

pattern_is_full

Remember that the ATR is a high-wing aircraft. The fuel is in the wings and thus the last thing that will touch the ground and receive damage, unless the plane is inverted or it is a high-energy crash (in which case there would be far more casualties). The wing tanks feed directly to the wing-mounted engines, so minimal fuel plumbing.

Looks like the left engine may be partially detached - probably the source of the leaks.

CBC has a story and photo. Plane not inverted. Left wing (at least) probably damaged, but still "in one piece." Still no fatalities.

All 25 passengers on crashed Saskatchewan flight 'accounted for' but some require air ambulance, RCMP say - Saskatoon - CBC News

pattern_is_full

Hmmm - ATR plus intermittent -SN, one ICING report, temperatures M09/M10. Wing contamination?

Accident: West Wind AT42 at Fond-du-Lac on Dec 13th 2017, impacted terrain shortly after takeoff

OldLurker

Perhaps … but conditions like that are routine there. Simple wing contamination may be the cause, but I'd bet there's more to it than that.

alph2z

From CBC TV interview. Transcribed from memory.

Cabin crew overheard saying "plane overweight".
Happening very quickly over 3 minutes. 1 engine "out", then 2nd engine "out", then impact.
Lots of fuel. A young passenger drenched in fuel, hanging upside down, and in shock. After he liberated himself he walked to the road under moonlight to alert the drivers as the rescuers were going to wrong location beyond the crash and had to make u-turns.
At least 1 passenger trapped inside plane for 3.5 hours.
Opening exit doors was almost impossible.

EDIT: This is from interview with the young passenger stated above.

J.O.

"Out", or just the standard thrust reduction after departure? Grain of salt here folks.

alph2z

Good interview with Timothy the "young passenger" above.

After re-seeing the interview :

EDIT: "cut" instead of "out". Happening very quickly under 3 minutes. 1 engine "cut", then 2nd engine "cut", then impact.

Uncle said during take-off that he felt something wrong.
His uncle was thrown out the plane. He said seat belt failed.
They walked over 20 minutes under moonlight, sometimes in circles, to find help.
Called cops on cell phone but the cops didn't answer.
Some passenger(s) drenched in blood.

Mudman

Some photos on the TSB Flickr page

Longtimer

The way the hull is ripped up forward of the wings, it is amazing that there were no fatalities.

RatherBeFlying

CBC interview of one local saying that they cut open fuselage to free trapped pax.

Still amazing everybody survived

admiral ackbar

Kudos to the Canadian Ranger that was one of the first people on the scene and helped as many as he could in difficult conditions.

Amazing no one died.

Rockhound

Agree with J.O. Non-technical eye-witness accounts of aircraft accidents must be treated with extreme caution. That both engines would fail seems very odd but obviously the aircraft failed to gain altitude in the normal way.

McGinty

In the last picture above, am I right in seeing that the two remaining propellers are bent in opposite directions? If so, then no engine power as the plane crashed? The wing has been propped up by various stakes and boards by the rescuers, so the picture does not show the original resting position of the engine and wing

B2N2

Different scenarios as to a double engine failure:
- bad fuel
- single failure and misidentified and working engine shut down. It happens.

Long time ago heard a story of a single bird strike that took out both engines on an aircraft.
It hit just above the cockpit window and damaged the wiring or the switches to both fire handles.

bloom

Perhaps the aircraft was overweight. And rather than stall, and crash uncontrolled, the Captain chose to land in control. And when he had decided to land under control, with no other options, decided to eliminate all heat and fire sources he could control to prevent post crash fire(s).

Just speculation.

So the Captain may be a hero. I hope so.

I would rather die in the initial impact than burn to death. Neither happened !

EDLB

With airport elevation of 800 feet and freezing conditions overweight is very unlikely the cause. With two working donkeys there is plenty of lift available. There is very likely another story behind, because at least one non reving prop on impact that close after take off looks strange.

atpcliff

a passenger said the plane "went sideways"...yaw from engine failure?

Hotel Tango

yeah, after impact maybe?

As with any accident there are multiple scenarios. I could spend a day making a list of them. One thing is for sure, the Canadian authorities will investigate thoroughly and publish a factual report.