Passengers report flames as Air Canada flight suffers ‘suspected landing gear issue’ after landing
By Dakin Andone, CNN
(CNN) — An Air Canada Express flight “experienced a suspected landing gear issue” after arriving at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia on Saturday night, though no injuries were reported, according to the airline.
Flight AC2259 – which took off from St. John’s, Newfoundland – was subsequently “unable to reach the terminal and customers were offloaded using a bus,” Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said in a statement to CNN. The flight, operated by partner PAL Airlines, was carrying 73 passengers, the statement said.
The plane – a De Havilland DHC-8-402, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada – skidded down the runway for a “decent” distance, and passengers saw flames on the aircraft’s left side, passenger Nikki Valentine told CNN newsgathering partner CBC.
“The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows,” Valentine said.
The Halifax incident echoed a far more severe – and deadly – incident in South Korea on Sunday morning local time, when a Jeju Air flight crash-landed at Muan International Airport, killing 179 people. Officials and aviation experts say a landing gear malfunction appears likely in that incident.
While no one was hurt in Halifax, “we appreciated this incident was unsettling for customers and we remain available to assist them,” Air Canada’s statement said.
The airfield was closed for about 90 minutes before one of its two runways was cleared for flight operations, Tiffany Chase, a spokesperson for the Halifax International Airport Authority, said in a statement.
“Four flights were diverted and there were a handful of cancellations and delays while the airfield was closed,” she added.
The incident will be investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which in a notice Sunday said it was deploying a team of investigators to the airport. They are expected to arrive later Sunday.
In the meantime, the aircraft remains on the runway, Chase said. Air Canada is waiting for the Transportation Safety Board to release the aircraft before returning customers’ belongings.
The cause of the suspected landing gear issue is unknown, the airline said, adding, “Out of respect for the investigative process we cannot speculate and have no additional information to provide at this time.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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