Safety Board to Kelowna to investigate plane mishap

The Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigator to Kelowna as part of an investigation into the diversion last week of a WestJet aircraft that lost power to one engine after a possible fire.

“The Transportation Safety Board is deploying an investigator to Kelowna, to investigate an inflight engine fire that resulted in the diversion of a WestJet Encore De Havilland DHC-8-402 aircraft,” the government agency said in a media release. “The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence.”

The flight from Kamloops to Calgary last Thursday diverted after it reportedly blew an engine shortly after take off.

CBC News reported the aircraft made an emergency landing at Kelowna International Airport around 4:45 p.m.

In a statement sent last week to CBC, WestJet confirmed its scheduled flight 3252 departed Kamloops with 75 passengers onboard and diverted “due to a mechanical issue.”

The Kelowna airport’s senior manager of airport operations Phillip Elchitz told the CBC that an “engine out” incident happened shortly after takeoff from Kamloops.

Elchitz said the airport activated its emergency response procedures after they were notified of the “mechanical issue” around 3:40 p.m.

Kelowna RCMP media relations officer Const. Mike Della-Paolera told the CBC that officers from the detachment as well as units from the Kelowna Fire Department responded in support of the airport emergency crews.

There were no reports of injuries amongst the passengers or crew and the airport resumed normal operations shortly after the plane landed.

The Transportation Safety Board is an independent federal agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline, and rail transportation occurrences, the release said, noting that its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety.

“It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability,” the release said.