One of Air North’s Hawker Siddeley aircraft was forced to turn around shortly after takeoff from Whitehorse early Monday afternoon when one of the two engines failed.

Air North president Joe Sparling said this morning the twin engine turbo prop aircraft had just taken off from Whitehorse for a training run with a crew of three aboard when the engine failure occurred.

The aircraft returned to the airport immediately without incident, he told the Star.

Sparling said like most twin-engine aircraft, the Hawker HS 748 is designed to fly on one engine if need be.

The engine failure and the need to make an emergency landing triggered an emergency response, communications officer Oshea Jephson of the Department of Highways and Public Works explained in an email this morning.

He said the control tower was contacted at 1:06 p.m. and subsequently made a 911 emergency call.

“The Whitehorse Fire Department and Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting arrived promptly to the scene and were able to stand down,” he said.

Sparling said they were pulling the engine off the Hawker this morning as part of their investigation to determine why the engine failed.

Air North has two Hawkers it uses for contract freight service, he said.

Passenger service is provided by the airline’s fleet of ATR shot-haul regional airliners and its fleet of Boeing 737s.