Passengers want answers in runway scare
‘No one has told us’ why Air Canada plane slid off the tarmac at Pearson
A passenger aboard an Air Canada flight on Friday night says he still hasn’t been told why the plane landed abruptly at Pearson airport, blowing a tire before coming to a sudden stop.
Passengers waited more than an hour before disembarking on the tarmac during a heavy rainfall.
“To this moment, no one has told us what happened,” said Paul Varian, a Burlington resident who provided a detailed description of the events before and after the “heavy” landing of flight AC623 from Halifax, which was carrying 118 people.
As of Saturday evening, Varian said Air Canada still hadn’t explained what happened but had reached out by email to apologize for the incident.
Isabelle Arthur, an Air Canada spokesperson, told the Star the aircraft’s landing gear left the runway for a short distance.
Peel Region paramedics said they were called to the airport, but ultimately weren’t needed.
Heavy fog and low clouds accompanied rain at the time of the landing around midnight.
“The clouds were very low — it was a heavy landing, but, in my opinion, not particularly heavy,” Varian said. “The pilot applied heavy brakes and we came to a sudden and complete stop.” He said passengers were told by the pilot before the descent began that it could be a bumpy approach.
After the plane touched the runway, it “lurched” to the left, but not an “excessive swerve,” he said.
He said passengers remained calm as the pilot told them the plane had to be inspected. About 90 minutes later, a mobile staircase and buses helped passengers to the terminal.
Varian said officials were on the scene immediately, but did not provide any explanation about what caused the incident. He said there appeared to be mud on the left undercarriage of the plane and the wheel on the same side under the wing was “blown out.”
But he said he did not know if the plane had left the runway.
“It was standing on the runway or tarmac where we stopped when we disembarked.”
He said none of the passengers he saw were injured and he was able to walk straight through the terminal to the car park shortly after stepping off the bus.
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said it is investigating.
Arthur, the Air Canada spokesperson, said the airline is connecting passengers with hotel accommodations and limousines for those wishing to head home. She said luggage would be delivered once maintenance and the authorities “have finished reviewing events.”
“We apologize for the inconvenience and will be in touch with our customers to follow up on the event and ensure they are all well taken care of,” she said.
A TSB spokeswoman, Julie Leroux, said the Airbus A320 would be moved to a hangar at the airport to be examined.
Leroux added that the investigators will ask for the flight data recorder — also known as a black box — as well as examine weather conditions and conduct interviews with passengers and Air Canada.
The plane was towed off the runway Saturday morning, Pearson Airport tweeted. Crews had begun cleanup and repairs by 10:45 a.m.
A much more severe incident happened at Pearson airport on Aug. 2, 2005, when Air France flight 358 tried to land during a violent thunderstorm. Going too fast, it ran off the rain-slicked runway and into the ravine, where it broke apart and burst into flames.
All 297 passengers and 12 crew survived the accident but 33 people were taken to hospital — two crew members and10 passengers were admitted to hospital with serious injuries.
After the crash, the TSB investigated the incident, ultimately recommending a series of nationwide changes. The Air France crash was blamed on to the crew’s failure to properly judge landing distance, the TSB said in a report.
It’s too soon to tell if changes made to the runways after the Air France crash played any role, positive or negative, in the incident Saturday morning, Leroux said.