Disabled warning system, poor visibility led to N.W.T. plane crash: report

EDMONTON — A report says poor weather and a plane’s disabled warning system led it to crash near Yellowknife, prompting a dramatic military rescue during a blizzard.

The report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, released Thursday, says the DHC-6 Twin Otter left the N.W.T. capital in December 2023, bound for two diamond mines north of the city.

After stopping at one of the mines, deteriorating weather meant the Air Tindi crew needed to make multiple passes to determine a landing spot near the second, the report says. On the plane’s final descent, it hit a hill that came into view two seconds before impact.

No one died, but the eight passengers and two crew members were stranded for several hours with inadequate supplies.

Two passengers were seriously injured and couldn’t be moved from the plane. The report says the pilot and others tied the aircraft’s nose to a rock with a hatchet strap so it wouldn’t slide down the hill.

Engine covers were used to block the plane’s doors to preserve heat. The pilot lit a candle from the plane’s emergency kit, but the report says it didn’t make a difference.

Others set up a six-person tent from the kit, and there was some food.

They were all airlifted out the next day.

The report credits the plane’s slow speed and a strong head wind it was facing as key reasons why those on board survived.

It says it was common for pilots making the trip to disable the plane’s terrain awareness warning system, as it could be more distracting than helpful.

The system didn’t recognize unofficial or improvised landing strips like those at the mine camps and pilots rely on visual landings. If left on, numerous warnings would go off while pilots tried to land.

The plane was circling a landing spot but conditions kept deteriorating. The flight crew determined there wasn’t enough visibility and switched to an electronic mapping system.

The report says there was a culture among the airline’s pilots, who “took great pride” in completing flights in challenging environments.

They “generally accepted deviation from published procedures,” says the report. And less experienced first officers often looked to pilots for decision-making and avoided speaking up about concerns because of “a perceived notion that ‘this is how it’s done’ when flying in the North.”

The pilot in the crash was highly experienced, the report says, which “likely altered his perception of risk over time, leading him to adopt a higher-risk threshold for weather limits.”

Air Tindi president Chris Reynolds said in an interview the company has spent the last two years trying to change that culture.

“The big cultural shift was moving the mindset where pride was primarily in experience and skill … to a culture where you use that experience in how you identify and manage those risks first,” Reynolds said.

“We’re still valuing that skill and knowledge, but we’re channelling it into a risk-based decision-making process rather than just focusing on getting the job done.”

Reynolds said the company has added additional layers of decision-making in determining whether flights go ahead in rough conditions. And it has created new risk assessment tools for pilots and dispatchers.

The company has also made significant investments in its fleet, including new technology to replace the terrain warning system, he said.

Survival equipment on Air Tindi planes has also been upgraded.

The report described the gear as being inadequate for those in the crash. Two tarps for shelter weren’t insulated and, as the crash happened north of the tree line, there wasn’t much around to tie the tarps to.

A military search-and-rescue plane, dispatched from Winnipeg, arrived at the crash site six hours after receiving a distress signal. The report says the blizzard and darkness prevented the military from spotting the wreck for nearly an hour.

The team eventually parachuted down, just as a volunteer crew from the nearby mine arrived on snowmobile.

“Heated shelters were erected below the hill, and all people at the site spent the night in the shelters,” the report says.

Helicopters arrived in the morning to take them to the mine camp and the injured to hospital in Yellowknife.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2026.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press