Air Canada Flight 624 crash lands in Halifax; 23 passengers injured
WATCH: Air Canada flight 624 made a hard landing at Halifax International Airport early on Sunday morning and skidded off the runway. Julia Wong has the details of the scary incident.
HALIFAX – The chief operating officer of Air Canada says the weather was safe for landing when a plane flying into Halifax early Sunday morning had a hard landing and skidded off the runway, injuring 23 passengers.
Klaus Goersch confirmed at a brief press conference at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Sunday afternoon that the incident, which occurred during a snowstorm, could technically be described as a crash because the plane did not reach its gate. He said he had never heard of a similar accident occurring previously with Air Canada.
WATCH: Air Canada’s chief operating officer says that they are working with government officials in the Flight 624 crash investigation but currently do not know the cause of the crash.
“It was safe to fly in this weather,” Goersch said. “The aircraft did circle for a period of time, but when the approach was initiated, the weather was at the approach minimums.”
He said the plane did not discharge any fuel before attempting to land.
Air Canada said all but one of the passengers on Flight 624 who were injured had been released from hospital by early Sunday afternoon.
“All of us at Air Canada are greatly relieved that there have been no critical injuries as a result of this incident,” Goersch said.
“It’s obviously been very unsettling for our customers and their families, and we’ve been working very hard with them.”
He said both pilots had been released from hospital after suffering minor injuries, and neither will be suspended. He said he was not aware of whether the pilots had ever been involved in other crashes.
He also did not comment on whether the incident occurred due to pilot error or weather, and said it’s not yet known which pilot was in control at the time.
Raw video: Air Canada flight 624 off runway at Halifax Airport
AC624 had 133 passengers and five crew members on board. It’s believed the plane hit a power line and then skidded, leading to a mass power outage at the airport. A direct link between the power outage and the hard landing have not been confirmed by airport officials.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is due to conduct an investigation that Goersch said will take months, and will involve interviews with crew members and people within the company, although he declined to offer specifics.
“We will co-operate and work with the authorities on the investigation of this incident,” he said. “At this point in time, we don’t know the cause and we won’t speculate on the cause of the incident.”
READ MORE: A look at Air Canada’s safety record
Officials from the Transportation Safety Board are coming from Ottawa and expect to hold a news conference at 6 p.m.
Airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the airport’s generators did not work as they should have, and the airport has enough generator power for the entire complex.
The airplane was an Airbus A320 model, the same type involved in the deliberate crashing of a Germanwings flight over France last week.
READ MORE: A look at the safety record of the A320
Air Canada said Sunday morning more of its management staff had arrived to for support, but did not confirm how many.
An Air Canada flight that went off the runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport early on Sunday.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Spurway said the airport was closed to all traffic after the accident. He said the Airport Authority can’t comment on the RCMP or TSB investigation, it can only give updates on the runway conditions and airport operations.
“We don’t know if weather was a factor,” Spurway said. “Crews had been clearing snow all day.”
Spurway said the plane was under control when it made contact with the runway.
No comments:
Post a Comment