Engine failure caused 2013 Ontario plane crash that killed 5: TSB

WINNIPEG – A plane crash that killed five people following an aborted landing at Red Lake, Ont., was caused by engine failure, a Transportation Safety Board of Canada report says.

Passengers Anna Johannesson, 53, Peter Struk, 53, and Sharron Taylor, 64, all from Red Lake, and pilots Peter Traczuk, 34, of Winnipeg, and Aniruddh Sawant, 25, who was living in Winnipeg but hailed from Mississauga, Ont., died in the Bearskin Airlines crash on Nov. 10, 2013.

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The crash happened shortly after the crew reported they were eight kilometres from the Red Lake airport and beginning their final approach, the TSB report says. The Fairchild SA227 Metro III they were flying experienced a near-total loss of power in the left engine 500 feet above the ground when an internal engine component failed, and Traczuk and Sawant declared an emergency.

The pilots couldn’t identify what had caused the engine to lose power, keeping them from taking quick action to control the aircraft, the TSB report says. Their landing gear also created drag that, combined with the failing engine, caused the plane to lose speed. As the plane slowed down, the pilots lost control too close to the ground to recover.

The pilots tried to pull out of the landing, but the plane veered, rolled to the left and dropped until the left wing hit trees and then hydro lines running along Highway 125. The plane passed over the highway and crashed into the woods on the other side.

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Two Bearskin Airlines employees who were on the plane as passengers survived the crash. Bearskin pilot Keith Hoffman, then 29, was uninjured and pulled Julie Dayholos, a Bearskin ticket agent who was 50 at the time of the crash, out of the wreckage before it burst into flames. Both are from Winnipeg.