News provided by CBC News – link to full story
No one was injured in the incident
Trevor Howlett · CBC News · Posted: Jul 19, 2019
Passengers on a WestJet flight to Edmonton had an unexpected scare Friday evening as their plane blew its two front tires while landing.
The flight was WS 3362 from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. There were 70 passengers on the flight. No one was injured in the incident. The plane was a Bombardier Q400.
Thunderstorms in the area exacerbated the situation for passengers, as crews could not attend to the plane due to lightning risk, so the plane remained on the tarmac. It was about a 80 minutes later that passengers finally got to the gate.
Ian Williams was on the flight at the time, heading home to Edmonton.
“I knew we were landing in a storm, but all of a sudden there was a downdraft that slammed the front nose down, and all of a sudden we heard the tires go pop,” said Williams.
Williams said the nose of the plane looked to be damaged.
WestJet said the aircraft will be out of service, which will affect other flights.
“The aircraft has subsequently been removed from service for further inspection from our maintenance team and as a result flight 3125 and 3198 have been cancelled due to limited aircraft availability,” WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell said in a statement.
“Our teams are working on reaccommodation options for guests affected by those cancellations and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Bell said the delay isn’t expected to affect connecting flights for passengers on WS 3362.
Williams praised the pilot for his handling of the situation and said he didn’t feel like the plane was in any danger.
Canadian Aviation News 