An Air Canada flight skilled a “exhausting touchdown” Saturday evening, in response to officers, inflicting the aircraft to skid down the runway and partially catch on fireplace, filling the cabin with smoke.
Air Canada Flight 2259 – operated by accomplice regional provider PAL Airways – had departed St. John’s Worldwide Airport in Newfoundland on-time Saturday night for the roughly two-hour journey to Halifax Stanfield Worldwide Airport in Nova Scotia. There have been 73 passengers onboard.
After arrival, the De Havilland DHC-8-402 encountered “a suspected touchdown gear challenge,” an Air Canada spokesperson instructed USA TODAY in an e mail on Monday. The airline added that the trigger is “presently unknown” and an investigation will likely be carried out by the Transportation Security Board of Canada, Air Canada and PAL.
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An Air Canada Specific plane
One passenger, Nikki Valentine, instructed Canadian information outlet CBC News that the aircraft landed angling to the left and he or she heard “what virtually seemed like a crash sound” because the aircraft’s left wing hit the pavement. The plane then continued to skid for a “first rate” distance.
“The aircraft shook fairly a bit and we began seeing fireplace on the left aspect of the aircraft and smoke began coming within the home windows,” Valentine mentioned.
Passengers and crew had been evacuated following the exhausting touchdown. “Because of this, the plane was unable to achieve the terminal and prospects had been offloaded utilizing a bus,” the airline mentioned. “There have been no accidents reported, nonetheless we admire this incident was unsettling for purchasers and we stay obtainable to help them.”
The incident closed down the airfield for about 90 minutes that evening. Airline crew have been unloading the cabin and checked baggage to reunite them with passengers.
TSB investigators arrived on the scene Sunday to maneuver the aircraft to a secure location and can facilitate “technical examination of the plane, focusing specifically on the left touchdown gear,” the company instructed USA TODAY in an e mail. TSB mentioned it’s going to additionally examine different concerns comparable to human components, climate circumstances, upkeep historical past of the plane and the airline operators.
The incident occurred only a day earlier than the Jeju Air flight that crashed at Muan Worldwide Airport on Sunday, killing all however two of 181 folks onboard. Though the precise reason behind the accident remains to be below investigation, aviation consultants just lately instructed USA TODAY that lethal airline incidents are “extremely rare.”
“Business aviation statistically stays the most secure type of transportation,” mentioned airline trade analyst Henry Harteveldt, including that the worldwide airline trade “cooperates extensively” on greatest practices and safety-related issues.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Air Canada flight skids down runway during hard landing, catches fire
