By Canadian Press

Safety board confirms lingering design problem behind N.W.T. float-plane crash

Nov 14, 2019 | 12:42 PM

EDMONTON — The Transportation Safety Board is confirming that a design problem in a popular small airplane contributed to three deaths in a crash in the Northwest Territories.

A board spokesman says the problem remains unaddressed, despite a number of deaths in the Cessna 206.

The board’s report confirms an earlier conclusion that three passengers died in August 2018, when they couldn’t open the plane’s rear cargo doors after the aircraft flipped upside down during a bad landing on Little Doctor Lake.

It says the doors were blocked by the plane’s wingflaps that had been extended for landing.

The problem has been understood for nearly three decades, but Canadian and U.S. authorities have been unable to find a feasible way to retrofit the planes.

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The board says the design flaw has caused 11 deaths since 1989.

Senior board investigator Gerrit Vermeer says there are 1,100 Cessna 206 airplanes licensed in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2019.

The Canadian Press