Plane 'reportedly destroyed' in landing accident at Wawa airport

The only airstrip at the Wawa Municipal Airport will be out of commission until at least Tuesday evening after a landing accident involving a single plane occurred early this morning.

The incident involved a Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft registered to Thunder Airlines Limited out of Thunder Bay. It attempted to land with three people on board at about 7:39 a.m. Monday.

Nobody was injured in the incident, said Rebecca Weatherall, assistant director of infrastructure services for the Municipality of Wawa.

Weatherall said the airstrip is likely to be out of commission until at least 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

“It’s likely to be extended,” she noted.

It was reported the aircraft lost control and suffered a landing accident on a snow-covered runway, said Liam MacDonald, media relations co-ordinator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).

”The Mitsubishi MU-2 was the only aircraft involved and it was reportedly destroyed,” said MacDonald.

Weatherall said the NavCanada website has issued a NOTAM, or notice to airmen, for the obstruction at the Wawa Municipal Airport, designated YXZ. NOTAMs are alerts to aircraft pilots of potential hazards.

“Due to the disabled aircraft, nobody can land,” said Weatherall. 

TSB is expected to arrive Tuesday morning to do its inspection of the incident.

”We have GFL and Thunder Air both coming this afternoon to do their inspections as well and look at site clean up and what it’s going to take to get the aircraft back to its home base in Thunder Bay,” said Weatherall.

TSB is an independent agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation incidents. Its only aim is to advance transportation safety.