Investigators to release findings into 2017 West Wind Aviation crash in northern Sask. | CBC News

Several people on board were seriously injured. One of them died in hospital two weeks after the crash. Some passengers soon filed a class-action lawsuit against the Saskatoon-based airline.

The TSB will release its long-awaited findings at 10 a.m. CST, followed by a virtual news conference at 11 a.m. CST. 

“We all need to hear what really caused the plane to go down,” said Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nation Chief Louis Mercredi in June 2020, almost two years after the TSB had wrapped its analysis and moved into the report phase of its investigation. 

The TSB released some preliminary findings in 2018. Engine failure was ruled out. The agency also found that the plane took off with ice on its wings, without having been de-iced.

It also shared a photo of the limited de-icing equipment that had been available to West Wind at the airport at time, which one aviation expert dubbed “woefully inadequate.”

That finding prompted the TSB to quiz other airlines operating in Canada’s North about their practices. The agency found many flights took off without de-icing first. 

However, TSB officials at the time did not comment on the cause of the Fond-du-Lac crash. 

Saskatoon-based West Wind — which rebranded itself as Rise Air earlier this year — will host its own online news conference at 2 p.m. CST with company president Derek Nice.

Journalists were asked to submit questions beforehand and told that additional questions will not be accepted during the news conference.