One person was killed when the plane crashed in Saskatoon. (Transportation Safety Board)

A mechanical failure in one engine and fuel starvation in a second engine led to the crash of a survey aircraft in Saskatoon in 2011, the Transportation Safety Board says.

Investigators say one engine failed and then as the plane headed back to the airport for an emergency landing, the second engine's fuel nozzle clogged.

The crash killed Laroslav Gorokhovski, 47, of Embrun, Ont. Gorokhovski was survived by a wife and two children, his employer said in a news release. (Fugro Airborne Surveys)

The plane, with a crew of three aboard, was a CASA C-212 aerial survey aircraft operated by Fugro Aviation Canada.

The pilots tried to land beside a freeway, but the plane crashed into a concrete noise wall.

The survey equipment operator, Iaroslav Gorokhovski, 47, died in the crash. The first officer was seriously injured and the captain suffered minor injuries.

"I knew Slava quite well, I worked with him for about 15 years," Davin Allen, from Fugro Airborne Surveys, said Tuesday. "We're obligated to again learn from this and ensure and mitigate in every possible way to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Allen said the company made a number changes to how it flies, within weeks of the crash.

An official with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the company was flying in accordance with procedures at the time of the crash.

"Given the state of the procedures that were in effect at the time — those were the approved procedures and the crew followed them — it would have been very difficult to prevent this [crash] from happening," Peter Hildebrand said.