Air North Old Crow-Dawson City flight makes emergency landing in Whitehorse

An Air North flight travelling from Old Crow to Dawson City made an emergency landing at the Whitehorse airport Mondayafternoon after itlost hydraulic fluid on departure.

Air North president Joe Sparling saidthe pilots of the Hawker Siddeley aircraft chose to divert to Whitehorse because the weather was better.

"With a hydraulic loss you only have limited use of your brakes and ... there's a possibility of having to be towed off the runway," saidSparling.

"It's a better airport to deal with that sort of thing."

Sparling said that without hydraulic pressure, there's a limited ability to retract the undercarriage of the aircraft.

The plane landed without incident, with safety vehicles standing by.There were 15 passengers and three crew on board.

Sparling said another aircraft was sent to Dawson City to retrieve the passengers bound for Whitehorse.

He says flight schedules won't be affectedby the incident as a back-up aircraft will be used while the plane intoday's incident is being fixed.