OTTAWA—Commercial flights from airports in northern Canada routinely put passengers at risk by departing while the aircraft are contaminated with ice and frost, a known cause of accidents, the Transportation Safety Board is warning.

On Friday, the safety board issued an urgent call to Transport Canada to ensure better de-icing equipment at remote airports and greater compliance by pilots with federal regulations that bar flight operations with contaminated aircraft surfaces.

“This issue is widespread, it’s recurrent and it leaves passengers and crews exposed to unnecessary risks,” Kathy Fox, chair of the Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference.

The recommendations arise from the board’s ongoing investigation into the December 2017 crash of a West Wind Aviation ATR-72 turboprop aircraft just seconds after takeoff from Fond-du-Lac, Sask. All 25 people on board were injured and one passenger later died.

Investigators have determined that the crew departed with ice on the aircraft’s surfaces, degrading its aerodynamic performance.

While there was some de-icing equipment at the airport, it was not suitable for an aircraft the size of an ATR-72, the board said.

Concerned this may not have been an isolated practice, the board sent out questionnaires to pilots working from remote northern airports. The board received 650 responses and, based on early analysis, it has concluded that pilots “frequently” take off with contaminated aircraft surfaces and that de-icing equipment is often inadequate at remote northern airports.

Almost 40 per cent of pilots said they are “rarely or never able” to have their aircraft effectively de-iced.

“It is time that Transport Canada and the aviation industry give people the tools they need to adequately de-ice aircraft,” Fox said.

“There also needs to be better compliance with the regulations prohibiting takeoffs with ice, snow and frost contamination.”

That’s because the survey suggests many pilots have become accustomed to the risk. “It’s partly human nature — do something slightly risky once without anything bad happening and you’re more likely to do it a second time,” Fox said.

A string of deadly accidents — including the 1989 crash of an Air Ontario jet that killed 24 people at Dryden — has repeatedly underscored the dangers of snow and ice contamination.

The safety board noted Friday that many northern airports have an icing season that stretches 10 months and more, putting at potential risk the thousands of flights that operate in these locales.

That’s because the lack of adequate de-icing equipment increases the chances that pilots will take a risk and attempt a takeoff with ice, snow or frost on the aircraft wings, stabilizers or propellers, it said.

The board urged Transport Canada to work with air operators and airports to “take urgent action to ensure that the proper equipment is available to reduce the likelihood of aircraft taking off with contaminated critical surfaces.”

While Transport Canada has 90 days to formally respond, federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Friday he has instructed his department to act quickly.

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“Given the seriousness of the issue, I took immediate action and I have instructed the department to look at the de-icing situation on an urgent basis,” Garneau said in a statement.

In the wake of the West Wind Aviations accident, Transport Canada grounded the airline. Its operations resumed in May 2018 after checks to ensure the operator’s compliance with safety regulations.