The Dec. 13, 2017 crash of West Wind ATR-42 injured all 25 people on board. One person, 19-year-old Arson Fern Jr., died two weeks later in a Saskatoon hospital.
The lack of adequate de-icing equipment and the normalized practice of taking off without de-icing created the conditions for the crash, the TSB said. Crew members were aware there was ice on critical surface areas when they took off, its report stated.
“While we do recognize that this investigation took a little bit longer than our normal investigations, we looked at many, many factors which caused (it) to last this long,” said the TSB’s investigator in charge, Eric Vermette.
Derek Nice, CEO of Rise Air — which West Wind rebranded as earlier this year — claimed responsibility for the issues that led to the crash.
“We are sorry for the harm caused to the passengers and crew on that flight, to their relatives and loved ones and their communities. And we are determined that something like this can never happen again,” he said.
None of the crew members involved are currently employed by the airline. Since the crash at Fond du Lac airport, the company now uses heated ice fluid tanks and a vehicle with a lift that allows access to every part of the plane, Nice said.
Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nation Chief Kevin Mercredi wasn’t immediately available for comment.
In a 2018 update, the TSB made it clear that the flight was “contaminated” with ice before takeoff and that its de-icing equipment was insufficient.
Prior to the crash that evening, ice had already formed on the plane but the flight crew landed it without incident and turned on anti-icing and de-icing systems, though some remained on the aircraft, the new report said.
The flight crew wasn’t aware of the full extent of the ice, it said.
One crew member walked around the aircraft on a dimly lit apron at night without a flashlight and inspected the top of the left wing from the plane’s stairs, the report stated.
The resulting crash prompted the TSB to ask remote northern pilots how often they took off without adequate de-icing. It learned they frequently flew with ice on “critical aircraft surfaces,” the report noted.
Departing in that condition has become normalized as common practice, which influenced the flight crew’s decision to fly in 2017, according to Vermette.
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