A North Cariboo Air plane came into Prince George Airport with ground crews on emergency alert, Monday morning.
The Dash 8 aircraft had 36 passengers aboard, plus a small crew, flying from Vancouver to Fort Nelson.
Prince George Airport was notified about five minutes before arrival that the plane would be making an unscheduled stopover at about 9:30 a.m.
YXS ground personnel were notified that one engine was powered down and a landing would being done with the one remaining propeller doing the essential work.
"We had our emergency crews on standby but it landed safely and we stood down," said airport spokeswoman Robin Smith. "It was not considered an emergency."
Also on standby were police, municipal firefighters and Pineview Volunteer Fire Department.
"It was purely precautionary," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass of the three police vehicles that gathered at Gate 9 of YXS. "We were called to assist, if need be, but we were not needed."
North Cariboo Air spokesman Peter Scheiwiller said the notification dispatched to airport staff was based on the pilot's use of standard safety protocols not an urgent incident.
"The pilots noticed an oil pressure light had come on," he said. "The engine could have operated under full power, the engine was not disabled in any way, it was never shut off, but the pilots made a choice to power the one engine down as a precaution."
The remaining engine power was plenty to execute a normal landing. Passengers and crew were subjected to nothing different in the landing and disembarking procedures, all spokespeople said.
By afternoon the plane had been declared mechanically sound and by press time it had delivered all passengers to Fort Nelson and was already off on another flight.
North Cariboo Air is headquartered in Fort St. John with satellite offices in Edmonton and Calgary.
