Tragedy, Majesty and Misery in Yukon

Sightseeing Plane Crash at Haines Junction Near Whitehorse June 2024

Photo thanks to travelyukon.com

She was walking toward me, like she was going somewhere. I had pulled up to the fuel pump on the way into the Campground at Whitehorse and she arrived from her adjoining campsite as I was starting to fuel. She was middle aged, blonde, and fit. Her face looked as if she had been weeping for 24 hours. Distraught, she asked for help in broken English with French accent and gestured to her campsite across the driveway. I walked with her to her rig—a huge Lance Truck Camper on a huge Ford Pickup with bicycles and kayaks hanging all over. She showed me her electrical service hookup cable and told me that something had “… died yesterday…” and she didn’t know what to do. I assumed that something electrical had died. I told her that I would get help. I went to the checkin desk and described the situation to the manager who said that the woman’s husband had died the day before in a sightseeing plane crash up at Haines Junction. A campground worker arrived to help her immediately. By next day a support group gathered around her—perhaps fellow Québécois living in the area—helping I’m sure with arrangements for the return to Quebec of her Partner’s remains and the Truck and Camper. I read in a news account that the two of them had been traveling from Quebec for about 5 weeks on their way to Alaska—not much different from what I had been doing from North Carolina.

Tragic.

What he, and the other passengers, saw on that flight was Kluane National Park including Mt. Logan pictured above. Mt Logan is the tallest peak in Canada, second in North America to Denali in Alaska. More from Kluane Park below.

Photo thanks to simonsulyma.com

I wish I had been able to help her. I might have made a friend. But I was experiencing brain fog and other symptoms of COVID, which I tested positive for the next day—the first of 12 days of misery traveling through the majesty. I didn’t begin to recover my energy until I reached Denali National Park.

But I think of her often. None of the news accounts gave her name.

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Air Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation:

Cessna U206G, C-GRSA, Haines Junction Aerodrome (CYHT), Yukon

10 June 2024

…On 10 June 2024, the Cessna U206G aircraft, … was on a sightseeing flight of the Kluane National Park area with 1 pilot and 5 passengers on board.

While the pilot was preparing for landing at the Haines Junction Aerodrome, Yukon, the aircraft’s engine suffered a complete loss of power. The pilot attempted to conduct a 180 degree turn to land into wind, but while turning back towards the airport, the aircraft stalled and subsequently collided with terrain, coming to rest upside down on the infield of the runway.

The pilot and 4 passengers received serious injuries. One passenger was fatally injured. There was no post-impact fire. The TSB is investigating.