The plane tilted on landing due to landing gear failure blamed on bird strikes.
Credit: Nik Sotor, X
An Air Canada flight narrowly avoided disaster last night after the plane tilted on landing causing the wing to scrape the runway and a fire to break out.
The incident took place at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Nova Scotia, Canada at around 9.30pm.
According to sources, this accident was also due to landing gear failure, thought to have be brought about by a bird strike, as in the tragic South Korean plane crash earlier the same day.
Landing gear failure experience terrified passengers
A passenger, Nikki Valentine, describing the terrifying incident to CBC News said:
‘The plane started to sit at 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, along with what I presume was the engine.’
At this point, the plane began to shake and fire was visible on the plane’s left hand side. Passengers reported smoke coming in through the windows.
Luckily, the fire was quickly extinguished and all passengers – it was almost full capacity and seated 80 – were taken to a nearby hanger to be checked over by paramedics. Fortunately, no major injuries were reported.
Second landing gear failure incident due to bird strike
A statement issued by the airport said that the Air Canada Flight 2259 involved was a PAL Airlines De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400, and that the plane had experienced landing gear failure causing it to skid off the runway.
Officials suspect a bird strike as the reason the plane’s landing gear failure.
This incident happened hours after the tragic South Korean Jeju plane crash.
The Korean media agency Yonhap reported that birds were also blamed for the failure in this plane’s landing gear, leading to the horrifying accident which claimed 120 lives.
Although it has not yet been confirmed that birds were the cause of the South Korea air tragedy, a transport ministry official reported that the control tower had issued a bird strike warning.
How common are plane crashes from landing gear failure due to bird strikes?
An article by the Eurasian Times which delves into the technical factors surrounding the tragic South Korean plane crash stated that plane crashes due to landing gear issues are rare because of ‘multiple fail-safes built into modern aircraft systems’ which allow ‘pilots to deploy the gear even if hydraulic or electrical systems fail’.
If such systems had been deployed but failed, ‘investigators would likely focus on factors such as bird strikes’ as this could ‘damage hydraulic or mechanical systems’ contributing to the likelihood of a crash.
