Air Tindi plane crashed after key flight instrument malfunction: TSB

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) suggests the failure of a primary flight instrument could be a key factor into a plane crash that killed two Air Tindi pilots outside of Whati on Jan. 30.

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The King Air 200 aircraft is equipped with two attitude indicators flight instruments that provide pitch and roll information.

According to Jeremy Warkentin, technical investigator for the TSB, one attitude indicator wasn't functioning when the flight took off, but the crew flewanyway. The second indicator failed 84 seconds before impact.

He said the pilots, Will Hayworth and Zach McKillop, had started their descent when the second attitude indicator suddenly failed. They were about 10,500 feet in the air.

"That portion of the flight was being conducted in instrument meteorological conditions, [which means] they were flying on instruments," said Warkentin.

Hayworth and McKillop were en route to Whati from Yellowknife. There were no passengers on the plane.

As first reported by Cabin Radio, the plane descended rapidly at a rate of 32,000 feet per minute and was travelling at about 700 km/hr when it hit the ground. For that type of plane, Warkentin said the normal rate of descent is 1,000 to 2,000 feet a minute.

The TSB investigation is still working on collecting and analyzing data from the crash. Warkentin said investigators have been able to access some information from the plane's cockpit voice recorder, but couldn't comment on what has been recovered from it.

He said his team is planning to return to the site soon to collect pieces of the wreckage that were missed during the first recovery, because of snowfall.

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"We're waiting on weather to co-operate with us and the snowpack to melt a bit," he said.

Warkentin said the TSB investigators have updated next of kin and Air Tindi, and are keeping in "constant communication" with them throughout the investigation.