Urgent action is needed to ensure that Canada’s remote airports, especially those in the north, have adequate deicing and anti-icing equipment and that aircraft are free from ice before takeoff, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says.
The TSB said the recommendation, which reiterates a similar call made in 2018, was prompted by its investigation of the fatal Dec. 13, 2017, crash of a West Wind Aviation Avions de Transport Régional ATR 42-320 seconds after takeoff from Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan, and on a subsequent online survey of pilots that found “operators at these remote airports were routinely affected by the unavailability and inadequacy of equipment to inspect, deice or anti-ice aircraft.”
One of the 22 passengers aboard the airplane was killed in the crash, eight passengers and one crewmember were seriously injured, and 13 passengers and two crewmembers received minor injuries. The airplane was destroyed.
The survey showed, among …
