Part of plane catches fire on Halifax runway after rough landing, temporarily closing airport

The Halifax airport was temporarily closed Saturday night after a plane arriving from St. John’s experienced a problem landing, which saw the plane skid down the runway and part of it catch fire.

Passenger Nikki Valentine told CBC News that one of the plane’s tires did not deploy properly upon landing.

“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,” she said.

Valentine said the plane then skidded down the runway for a “decent” distance as the pilots worked to stop the plane.

“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,” she said.

Passenger count not yet known, but many shaken up

A statement issued by the airport said the incident involved Air Canada Flight 2259, which was operated by PAL Airlines. The incident happened around 9:30 p.m. AT.

The statement does not say how many people were on the plane.

The people on board were evacuated, and then taken to a hangar to be checked out by paramedics.

Valentine estimates the plane’s capacity was about 80 passengers, with about 20 rows of seats and a pair of seats on either side of the aisle.

She said it was mostly full and it took up to two minutes to get everyone off the plane.

“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 said.

Valentine, who spoke with CBC from the hangar where many were taken, said the passengers did not seem to suffer any life-threatening injuries but were shaken up.

The airport said one of its runways has since reopened.

MORE TOP STORIES