Almost a year after a Keystone Air Service (Keystone) plane crashed near Thompson, Man., injuring eight people, the company is no longer in operation.
A new report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) found incorrect fuel and inadequate supervision led to the crash last fall. A TSB investigation into the company revealed “safety concerns” and Keystone’s air operator certificate was then cancelled, the report said.
Global News reached out to Keystone for a comment. However, a woman who answered the phoned said, “Keystone was bought out in January,” by another air charter service, Wings Over Kississing.
Thompson plane crash
The Keystone flight destined for Winnipeg malfunctioned shortly after takeoff in Thompson on Sept. 15, 2015. The crew tried to circle back to the runway, but crashed a mile southwest of the airport.
All eight people on board survived, but sustained “varying serious injuries,” the report said.
The TSB confirmed six passengers and two pilots were on board the twin-engine Piper 3A31 Navajo operated by Keystone, a charter service based in the RM of St. Andrews.
In October 2015, an investigation by the TSB concluded the plane was filled with the wrong fuel. The twin piston-engine aircraft requires aviation gasoline (AvGas), but was re-fueled with turbine engine fuel (Jet A1).
READ MORE: Wrong fuel to blame for Thompson plane crash: investigation
“The fuelling operations were also not adequately supervised by the flight crew, and the fuel slip indicating that Jet-A1 fuel had been delivered was not available for their review,” the report said.
Not the first crash
This is the not the first crash involving Keystone Air Service.
READ MORE: Pilot inexperience factor in fatal 2012 plane crash
In January 2012, a Piper Navajo — also operated by Keystone Air Service — crashed near a remote Northern Ontario community killing four people after it departed Winnipeg. The pilot and three passengers were killed; one other passenger survived.
Pilot inexperience was deemed the cause of that crash.
In 2002 another Keystone plane crashed in the middle of a Winnipeg intersection after it ran out of fuel. One person was killed.
WATCH: Keystone Air flight that crash landed near Thompson airport was filled with the wrong fuel
Comments