A Westjet flight kept passengers stuck on board for more than an hour in Edmonton after a hard landing.
The incident involved a Westjet Encore De Havilland Dash 8 (400) which landed safely on July 19, but made "abnormal runway contact," according to an aeroinside.com report.
Flight WS-3362 from Fort McMurray landed on Edmonton's runway 12 with 70 passengers and four crew aboard.
While taxiing off the runway, the crew became aware both nose tires had burst. There were no injuries, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage, Aeroinside reports.
Passengers reported they were landing in the midst of a storm, when the aircraft was caught by a downdraft that caused the nose to slam down and they heard the tires "pop."
A Transportation Safety Board inspection revealed wrinkles in the fuselage skin, a damaged left nose gear door, damage to the forward pressure bulkhead and the nose gear assembly.
Due to lightning at the time, maintenance crews were unable to work on the aircraft for about 40 minutes. After the tires were replaced, it taxied to the gate, and the passengers disembarked normally about 80 minutes after landing.
Aeroinside's report contains information from the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Report System.
Transport Canada endeavours to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data contained within CADORS, however, the information within should be treated as preliminary, unsubstantiated and subject to change.
— Jon Manchester, Castanet
