Air Canada plane skids off runway in Halifax Stanfield airport and catches fire

Halifax Stanfield International Airport was closed for approximately 90 minutes Saturday night after a landing issue involving Air Canada Flight 2259, operated by PAL Airlines. The plane, arriving from St. John’s, skidded down the runway during landing, with part of the aircraft catching fire.

Passenger Nikki Valentine described the harrowing experience, stating that one of the plane’s tires failed to deploy properly.

“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,” Valentine told CBC.

As the plane skidded down the runway, the pilots worked to bring it to a stop. “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 recounted.

The incident, which occurred around 9:30 p.m. AT, involved 73 passengers and crew. Passengers were evacuated by bus after the plane came to a halt and could not reach the terminal.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick confirmed a “suspected landing gear issue” was responsible for the incident. While Fitzpatrick stated there were no injuries, the Nova Scotia RCMP reported minor injuries among some passengers.

Valentine said the evacuation process took about two minutes. “One side of the entire plane was on fire, so everyone was pretty much in a hurry to get off — but an organized hurry,” she explained.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced it is deploying a team of investigators to examine the incident involving the de Havilland DHC-8-402 aircraft.

The airport reopened one of its runways after the closure, but the aircraft remains on the closed runway. Four flights were diverted, and several others were delayed or canceled during the closure.

Further updates from the TSB investigation are expected as officials begin their inquiry into the cause of the accident.