Alkan_Air

Alkan Air

Alkan Air

Canadian charter airline and air ambulance


Alkan Air Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The company operates seven-day-a-week charter and air ambulance (medevac) services. The Whitehorse and Mayo (seasonal) bases generally focus on wheel and floatplane charter and medevac services in northern and western Canada and Alaska. The Nanaimo, BC base provides charter and medevac services, focused primarily in western Canada, the western United States and Mexico. From 2016 to 2018, Alkan also operated scheduled flights between Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport and Watson Lake Airport.[5][6]

Quick Facts IATA, ICAO ...

History

Alkan Air was formed in 1977 by Barry Watson and two Whitehorse businessmen, Win and Joe Muff. It was named in honour of the famous Alaska Highway or Al-Can Highway which skirts the City of Whitehorse. Hugh Kitchen became a partner in 1987 when Win and Joe Muff decided to sell their stake in the company in order to start a telecommunications business in Whitehorse.

The company began by operating a Cessna 206 on floats/skis and a Cessna 337 on wheels. Expansion soon followed and by 1987, when float and ski operations were discontinued, Alkan Air was one of the main providers of scheduled service in Yukon. In the early 1990s, the company gradually phased out scheduled flights in order to focus on charter operations. High performance, pressurized Beech King Airs were introduced in 1994.

Alkan Air primarily flies charter operations for hunting outfitters and government operations. Three Kings Airs are dedicated to flying medevacs for the Yukon Government.[7]

In October 2015, Alkan Air opened a flight training school to accommodate a need in Yukon for people wanting to learn to fly. As of 2016, the flight school operates two Cessna 172's, a Piper PA-34 Seneca 3[8] and can train for Private and Commercial Licenses and multi-engine and instrument ratings. In addition, Alkan Air operates a Transport Canada certified simulator for instrument training.[9]

Fleet

As of December 2020, Transport Canada lists the following aircraft:[4]

Alkan Air BE20 at Cambridge Bay Airport
C-FSKF, the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in Whitehorse approximately one year earlier
More information Aircraft, No. of Aircraft ...

In addition Transport Canada lists a Cessna 206[11] and a DHC-3 Otter[12] with cancelled certificates.

Accidents and incidents

On August 6, 2019, a Cessna 208B (C-FSKF) crashed into a mountain near Mayo Airport killing the pilot and the only passenger. The aircraft had departed Rau strip, a remote airstrip serving a mineral exploration camp about 150 km (93 mi) northeast of Mayo.[13][14] The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigation report into the accident was released on July 29, 2020,[15] and identified poor pilot decision making in conditions of poor weather in mountainous terrain as a major cause of the crash.[16]


References

  1. "ICAO Designators for Canadian Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services" (PDF). Nav Canada. 2023-05-04. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-24. Alkan Air: AKN, ALKAN AIR
  2. Transport Canada (2019-09-05), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  3. "Watson Lake, Yukon, welcomes 1st scheduled flight in decades". CBC News North. September 13, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  4. "Alkan Air to cancel Watson Lake flights". yukon-news.com. Yukon News. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  5. "Flight Training Fleet". Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  6. "Flight Training". Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  7. "Air transportation safety investigation report A19W0105". Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Government of Canada. July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  8. "Pilot decision-making in poor weather contributed to fatal 2019 controlled flight into terrain accident near Mayo, Yukon". Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Government of Canada. July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Alkan_Air, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.