Air Canada Dash 8 catches fire following landing gear failure
An Air Canada De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 has skidded off the runway following a landing gear failure at Canada’s Halifax Airport.
At approximately 9.30pm local time on 28 December, Air Canada Express flight 2259 operated by Canadian regional carrier Pal Airlines “experienced an aircraft incident upon arrival in Halifax from St. John’s, NL,” confirmed the airport in a statement. Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick confirmed that the flight experienced a “suspected landing gear issue,” adding that none of the crew or 73 passengers were injured in the incident.
Footage circulating on social media appears to show the port wing scraping along the runway during landing, with flames seen emanating from the engine.
Passenger Nikki Valentine explained to CBC News that “the ‘plane started to sit a about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud – what almost sounded like a crash sound – as the wing of the ‘plane started to skid along the pavement”. She added that the aircraft “shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the ‘plane and smoke started coming in the windows”.
The fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported. The airport confirmed it was “closed briefly” before one of its runways was cleared to resume further operations.
