Plane Passenger Recalls La Ronge Airport Crash
Friday, February 06, 2009 at 15:33
A woman who was aboard a Transwest Air plane that crash-landed in La Ronge this week says a lack of power may have contributed to the incident.
Tessa Santana of the La Ronge provincial court office was preparing to travel to Deschambault Lake when the plane transporting her party went down during takeoff at the La Ronge airport Wednesday morning.
Santana says she noticed immediately that something wasn’t right — that they didn’t have enough speed to get up high enough.
She says they weren’t that far off the ground when the plane turned sharply and ended up going sideways into the bush.
Santana says that’s when she looked out a window and realized that the plane was on fire.
She says she tried to tell everyone what was going on, including a fellow passenger who was listening to an iPod and not aware of what was taking place.
Santana says a Crown prosecutor fell out of a door while exiting the craft.
They got him to safety and made their way back to the airport, where emergency crews had already started to arrive.
Santana says she’s grateful to be alive.
She has already returned to work.