Crews work on the Airbus A320 that slid off a runway at the end of Halifax Stanfield Airport in Enfield, N.S., on Sunday.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
Stormy night
There was bad weather around Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Saturday night, but it was nothing Air Canada passenger Gordon Murray, a frequent business traveller, hadn't seen many times before.
He said the plane circled for at least 30 minutes due to poor visibility. The pilot of the Airbus A320 told passengers over the intercom that he didn't have the necessary half-mile of visibility to attempt a landing, suggesting they would refuel in Moncton if necessary.
Visibility, however, improved and the pilot told passengers they were going to land. Mr. Murray, 54, wasn't concerned.
"The approach itself wasn't much different than what you'd run into on a stormy evening," he said. "It was a little bumpy, but that was to be expected on the kind of day that we had."
As the plane was about to land, Mr. Murray felt a bump and saw a big flash of light. The plane dropped, hit hard, bounced and then went into a skid.
"We had seen sparks go flying when the engine came off. It burst into flame a little bit and you could see the sparks where we were sliding on the pavement," he recalled.
"My biggest concern was fire, but once we stopped sliding, and we seemed to slide forever, my concern was smoke in the cabin or fire – and there wasn't any."
Out the emergency door
Lianne Clark and her husband, Randy Hall, were seated in the emergency-exit row, returning from a two-week vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She felt a vibration before the plane hit the ground the first time. The jolt lifted the computer consultant off her seat, despite the fact that she was in her seatbelt. Her head smacked the overhead bin.
Her husband, sitting in the middle seat, grabbed her head and tucked it down. He turned to the window and saw the landing gear break away. Then the engine fell off and the wing started to tear apart.
"The sparks were unbelievable," Mr. Hall said. "I figured my time was up."
He remained calm, though, focused on helping his wife and others.
The young woman next to the emergency-exit door looked stunned, and so Mr. Hall reached for the handle and pulled the door open. He threw the door outside and pushed the young woman down the inflatable slide.
He then stepped out and grabbed his wife's hand. They went down the ramp together.
It was hard to see in the dark and whipping snow.
"All I could smell was fuel. There was fuel everywhere," said Mr. Hall, a resident of Mount Uniacke, N.S. "And I just started screaming at everybody, 'Run. Run as fast as you can, as far as you can.'"
Huddled like penguins
After the escape, confusion, frustration and anger set in among many passengers. The airport's power was out. Ms. Clark said it took about 15 minutes for the first emergency vehicle – a fire truck – to arrive.
Many passengers were left in the biting cold for about an hour, huddled together like penguins to keep warm under a tarp. Temperatures dropped to around -6 degrees, -15 with the windchill, at the airport that night.
Mr. Hall and Ms. Clark were dressed in T-shirts and running shoes. Some passengers were in stocking feet. They stood about 300 metres from the crash until they were moved to a chilly hangar.
At least the blizzard seemed to help contain the plane's sparks. Twenty-five passengers were hospitalized; all but one had been released by Sunday evening. None of the injuries were life-threatening, Air Canada said.
"We got extremely lucky," Ms. Clark noted.
Ms. Clark and her husband believe the airport's emergency plan failed passengers and should be strengthened.
"We think that the airport authority really dropped the ball on this one," Mr. Hall said, adding that he also questions whether the plane should have attempted to land when it did.
A Transportation Safety Board investigation is under way.