Dempster flame out?

[Tuk U]

What the F=== I am told a 99???? any news

Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 04, 2009
INUVIK - A charter plane made an emergency landing on the Dempster Highway on Saturday after both engines failed, forcing the pilot to land.

The plane owned by North-Wright Airways Ltd., a Norman Wells charter company with an office in Inuvik, landed approximately 15 km out of town at the 242 km marker of the highway sometime early Saturday afternoon.

The Inuvik fire department along with the RCMP, Highway patrol and the town's by-law unit responded to the emergency.

There were no passengers on board and the pilot was not injured in the incident. Mechanics for North-Wright Airways were headed to the scene late Saturday afternoon to repair the plane so the pilot could continue on to the Inuvik airport.

No information was available as to where the plane was coming from.

The highway was closed to traffic Saturday afternoon.

[just curious]

It's back on the Inuvik Ramp this morning.

[Cat Driver]

It's back on the Inuvik Ramp this morning.

Their maintenance people were quick fixing the problem obviously.

[pilotbzh]

let me guess a barrel of fuel fixed the problem ????

[yfly]

let me guess a barrel of fuel fixed the problem ????

Surely your not implying they forgot to load the "granny gas"?

[NJ]

What ac type?

[Rog]

Ban multi-engine IFR!

[square]

Ban multi-engine IFR!

[Siddley Hawker]

Surely your not implying they forgot to load the "granny gas"?

And maybe the "mommy & daddy's" also?

[Cat Driver]

Where is the CADORS?

[Cat Driver]

It's back on the Inuvik Ramp this morning.

Did they tow it home on the highway or fly it home?

[GilletteNorth]

AOR report: CF-KHD declared a double engine failure at 1834Z while on approach to CYEV. Landed aircraft on a winter road at 1838Z. pilot left aircraft at approx. 1855Z with fire crew. No apparent damage to aircraft.

(BE99)

[young grasshopper]

Aircraft Information
Flight #:
Aircraft Category: Aeroplane Country of Registration: CANADA
Make: BEECH Model: 99
Year Built: 1968 Amateur Built: No
Engine Make: PRATT & WHITNEY-CAN Engine Model: PT6A-20
Engine Type: Turbo prop Gear Type: Land
Phase of Flight: Descent Damage: No Damage
Owner: NORTH-WRIGHT AIRWAYS LTD. Operator: NORTH-WRIGHT AIRWAYS LTD (5732)
Operator Type: Commercial

Detail Information
User Name: Ridley, Rod
Date: 2009/05/04
Further Action Required: Yes
O.P.I.: Aviation Enforcement
Narrative: C-FKHD, a Beech 99 operated by North-Wright Airways, was on a VFR flight from Fort Good Hope to Inuvik (YEV) and about 30 NM south of YEV when the pilot advised Inuvik FSS of a double engine failure at 1834z. The pilot force-landed on the Dempster Highway at 1838z with no reported damage to the aircraft. The pilot was the only occupant. TSB has been in contact with the company and the initial report indicates that the engines quit due to fuel exhaustion.

[ahramin]

They flew it off.

[xsbank]

"...and the town's by-law unit..." just checkin' to make sure his dog was licensed properly.

RAN OUT OF GAS? Gee, I guess no one will investigate because there is nothing new to learn here.... sigh.

[pelmet]

The North-Wright Airways Ltd. Beech 99, C-FKHD, was operated as a single-pilot cargo day-VFR flight from Fort Good Hope, NT to Inuvik, NT. The aircraft departed Fort Good Hope with approximately 760 to 800 pounds of fuel at a flight planned altitude of 4500 feet ASL. 100 nm north of Fort Good Hope the pilot determined that 5 to 10 minutes of the VFR reserve fuel would be required to reach Inuvik. At 10 nm from Inuvik, the left engine lost power followed 90 seconds later by the right engine. A successful forced landing was conducted on the Dempster highway 7 nm south of Inuvik. Total flight time was approximately 50 minutes. There was no damage to the aircraft. Maintenance checked the fuel system, added fuel, ran up the aircraft and released it for flight. The aircraft was flown off the highway and landed in Inuvik.

[Strega]

Once again, the "professional pilot" at his best.....

I wonder how many tow truck drivers run out of gas?

[Donald]

The aircraft departed Fort Good Hope with approximately 760 to 800 pounds of fuel at a flight planned altitude of 4500 feet ASL.

Are Be-99 fuel guages consistently accurate, or do they require frequent and difficult maintenance?

[adf]

And he had a road to land on.... in the Territories????? God's baby sittin' this lad, for sure!!

[ahramin]

The 99 fuel gauges are worse than useless. However, when the nacelle not full lights come on (which they would have done either shortly before or shortly after takeoff) you know exactly how much fuel you have at that moment, and it's not quite enough to get to Inuvik.

[200hr Wonder]

4500' on a PT6? One would think going up to 12500 would have solved a lot of problems with fuel burn unless it was a really short leg... Though honestly from what I know of PT6s on that type of a king air I would not have felt good leaving the ground for a 50min flight with less than 1000# of fuel.

[Liquid Charlie]

Kinda ironic that this incident happens when we are talking about a little extra fuel -- you can see from my tag line where I stand on this -- having said that it's not the same now cuz extra fuel is not putting us overweight except for landing and then the extra fuel is only needed when an approach is required so it gets burned.

But if I was flying in the north back on those turbo props I would not put myself in the situation where I was low on fuel - but that is a personal decision -- I have always asked guys -- "what's more dangerous -- being a little heavy or running out of fuel on short final" -- the whole system has built in errors that will come back to haunt you because you were focusing so hard on being legal you lost sight of the big picture. It always amazed me how airplanes weights always changed after they were re-weighed - we work with figures -- standard weights and everything is subjective. Until we get like the trucking industry we really have no idea on what we really weigh -- In my mind this whole issue of a little extra fuel has nothing to do with safety but more about doing anything to stay with what is perceived to be legal which sometimes crosses the line to being unsafe. Legal is great but common sense and the ability to pick out the traps is better -- and above all don't stooge around vfr when ifr is better -- make them reduce the load so you can fly ifr -- remember cam bay

[Sulako]

Unfortunately, there's no good excuse for running out of gas. Having said that, I was low on fuel once; I didn't like it very much and haven't repeated the experience. I wonder if this pilot will face criminal charges like that Keystone feller? I'm just playing devil's advocate for a second - besides the fact that only the pilot was on board, was there any significant difference between this flight and Keystone guy's flight? If anything, this one is even worse because the guy didn't even make it to the airport let alone shoot an ILS and then go around. Before you get the torches out, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Mostly.

I mean, I'd hate for the guy to actually be charged - I think it would start a very bad precedent and I'm sure that fuel management is one thing this Beech 99 guy will not have issues with in the future. At the end of the day the pilot made it home and the plane was still usable, and it really could have been a lot worse. It still makes me wonder in a general way though, what the level of negligence is that gets a person charged vs not charged after an incident.

I was also thinking about the insurance company angle on this - if a pilot is convicted of a criminal offence does the insurance company still have to cover them? For example, suppose a pilot runs out of gas and is convicted of negligent operation of a motor vehicle or whatever - I have no idea what the actual charge would be. But anyway could the insurance company then say they won't pay to fix the plane because it was being operated illegally and point to the pilot's conviction as proof? Or maybe that's not how the system operates at all and I'm just being paranoid, which is entirely possible too.

['effin hippie]

I'm trying to think of a reason why it might not be this guys fault, but I can't.

One thing for sure, they SHOULD be taking a long hard look at the whole company. Poor fella in the 337 couple years ago. This shit doesn't happen in isolation.

The wife is taking a seminar on industrial safety. WCB says for every accident there are around 10 near misses. Tip of the iceberg I guess.

ef

[arctic navigator]

And this is the 2nd time known that NWA has had problems knowing how much gas they've had on board in the not too distant past. I'm not sure if the accident report has ever come out on the 207 that crashed just west of Tulita but I understand it was for the same thing, and of much worse consequence (everyone walked out but were banged up and the aircraft was a write-off).