"The light of truth will always expose the shadows of lies of dishonest men" -W.Churchill
Here's the National Post article:
Jet slides off runway, hits sign: Calgary emergency: 78 passengers on plane as it tears along grass verge
NATIONAL POST
01/25/2005
Federal investigators are trying to determine why a Jetsgo flight with 78 passengers aboard suddenly veered off the runway at Calgary airport last week, trundled along the grass verge, then took off again from the turf.
As it tore 1,600 feet along the frozen ground, the McDonnell Douglas MD83 ran over a sign, apparently damaging flaps, landing gear doors and hydraulics, according to an official report on the incident.
The crew lifted off from the grass after reporting a "fuel emergency," but circled around and landed again safely. About 30 other aircraft were left in holding patterns and emergency vehicles dispatched as the drama unfolded.
Investigators are not saying what caused the mishap, but the most likely culprit would appear to be the weather, said Tom MacMillan, a Jetsgo spokesman.
"The combination of ice fog, low ceiling, low visibility and no centre lights on the runway ... would have come together to make the landing that much more problematic or challenging," he said.
Mr. MacMillan stressed that the fuel emergency only meant that if the plane had been forced to wait in queue behind other flights for its second landing, it would not have had enough fuel to be diverted to another airport, should Calgary be closed.
But one experienced airline pilot said the incident could have ended much more hazardously, especially given the fuel situation and harm inflicted to the jet's airframe and hydraulic lines.
"Had they kept the aircraft on the ground, where would it have ended up?" said the pilot, who asked not to be named. "In what heap, in what snow bank?"
The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and plans to analyze both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder at its Ottawa office, said John Cottreau, a spokesman for the agency. He could not say when a report would be issued.
"We investigate when we think there are lessons to be learned," said Mr. Cottreau.
The incident began just before 8 p.m. Calgary time last Thursday, as Flight 191 from Toronto touched down on Runway 34, according to a report on Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS), obtained by the National Post.
Crew members reported they felt the aircraft start to slide off the runway, so elected to do a missed approach, meaning they would lift off and try another landing, said the report. The crew told the control tower they had to get back to ground as soon as possible because of what they called a "fuel emergency."
The plane landed safely again at 8:10 p.m., with no injuries reported.
"It was later reported by TSB that the entire aircraft departed the runway during the landing sequences and the go-around was initiated from the grass beside the runway surface," said the CADORS report.
"There is damage to the flaps, gear doors and possibly some hydraulic lines."
Some airlines require their crew to use auto-land in conditions such as those at Calgary, where visibility was reduced to 1,400 feet, said the commercial pilot.
It is possible that, as the Jetsgo flight broke out of the clouds, the pilots were hand flying, thought incorrectly that there were lights embedded down the centre of the runway and lined up the plane accordingly. If so, they would have been looking at lights that were actually along the side of the runway. As they aligned the craft, it would have been half on and half off the runway, said the pilot.
Mr. MacMillan, the Jetsgo spokesman, said the arrival at Calgary initially seemed quite normal.
But "the captain at the time said he felt something abnormal on landing and so pulled up again."