Air Canada crashes on runway in Halifax

Mr.Cyan

Mr.Cyan

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Another A320 crashes on landing in Halifax, thankfully there are no fatalities - but very strange that the Halifax airport had a power outage just before the crash.

This comes right after Amsterdam's Schipol airport having a power outage as well this week. Really strange times now....

http://rt.com/news/244953-air-canada-crash-halifax/
 
Announcements for a couple of businesses closing their doors came through today in the region, one of them fairly large; "Future Shop" announced the closure of all its locations; with plans to convert some to Best Buys or Targets or something, and completely shutter others.

Also, this article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-s-population-shrinking-1.1869220

I wonder if "Crash" might be a metaphor..?

If so.., I wonder if one can take comfort in the fact that nobody was hurt in that crash? It's not like Nova Scotia doesn't have plenty of experience. They do poverty like a pro from all historical reports.
 
Mr. Cyan, I found some updated information here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/air-canada-ac624-slides-off-runway-in-halifax-23-sent-to-hospital-1.3013979 Strange times indeed.
 
According to the METAR at the time (pilots weather report for the airport essentially), there was windshear reported around the time it crashed. Windshear is a sudden change in wind speed and direction, which is dangerous for aircraft, especially on approach to the runway, because it can 'throw' a plane about in an unknown direction, even towards the ground, at a high rate.

EDIT- Just to clarify, there wasn't windshear reported on the METAR, but just strong gusts. This could also be indicative of windshear, just not reported, OSIT.


From pprune, _http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/558968-air-canada-a320-accident-halifax-2.html

SPECI CYHZ 290414Z 34024G33KT 3/4SM R14/P6000FT/U -SN DRSN BKN010
OVC018 M06/M07 A2965 RMK SF7SC1 SLP046=
CYHZ 290400Z 34019G54KT 3/4SM R14/5000VP6000FT/D -SN DRSN BKN007
OVC010 M06/M07 A2964 RMK SF7SC1 SLP045=
SPECI CYHZ 290313Z 35020G26KT 1/2SM R14/3500V4500FT/N SN DRSN VV003 M06/M07 A2963 RMK SN8 SLP040=
CYHZ 290300Z 34019G25KT 1/8SM R14/P6000VM0300FT/N +SN DRSN VV003 M06/M07 A2962 RMK SN8 /S09/ SLP038=


If CBC news is reporting correctly (That's a big if!) then the accident occurred at 03:35Z landing on runway 05 which is a LOC only approach. If Jetplan is accurate the METAR above shows a significant windshear near that time.
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I've bolded the time and wind. It will say 290400z as 29th march, 0400 zulu time and wind coming from the direction of 340 degrees at 19 knots, gusting up to 54 knots.

It is also reported that the airplane hit some power lines before crashing onto the runway, possibly leading to the power-outage at the airport. There are power lines on approach to either runway. It is strange though, as the airport was in darkness for 80 minutes before it was restored. I'm pretty sure that the majority of international airports ( or busy, whatever you want to call it), require emergency backup generators that can come on very quickly after an outage.

EDIT- Clarification
 
_http://avherald.com/h?article=483e7337&opt=4097

An Air Canada Airbus A320-200, registration C-FTJP performing flight AC-624 (dep Mar 28th) from Toronto,ON to Halifax,NS (Canada) with 133 passengers and 5 crew, was on approach to Halifax's runway 05 at about 00:07L (03:07Z) when the aircraft touched down short of and below the runway threshold, clipped a powerline and approach light about 250 meters short of the runway, climbed the embankment up to the runway level and came to a stop past the threshold of the runway near taxiway B about 300 meters down the runway. The aircraft was evacuated. 23 people received injuries and were taken to a hospital, the aircraft sustained substantial damage (all landing gear collapsed, left hand engine separated, wing damaged, horizontal stabilizer damaged).

The aircraft had been holding west of Halifax prior to commencing the approach waiting for weather (visibility) to improve.

Halifax Airport confirmed there had been an accident on the longer runway 05/23 (length 3200 meters/10,500 feet), which as result of the accident is currently closed. The shorter runway 14/32 (length 2350 meters/7,700 feet) was opened about 5.5 hours after the accident. There were a number of minor injuries. Due the cut of the power line the airport was without power for about 90 minutes until the power supply was restored.

The airline confirmed the aircraft suffered a runway excursion on landing in Halifax, 23 passengers and crew were taken to hospitals, 18 of them could be discharged from hospital in the meantime.

The Canadian TSB announced they have dispatched a team of investigators to Halifax and opened an investigation into the accident.

Halifax's runway 05 features a LOC or NDB non precision instrument approach (no glideslope available, common LOC frequency with ILS runway 23), runway 23 offers a CAT II ILS approach, runway 14 offers a CAT I ILS approach.

_http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA624/history/20150329/0055Z/CYYZ/CYHZ
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Could be that at night, with only lateral instrument guidance and possibly crew fatigue (very common in the industry unfortunately, profit over safety as usual) and challenging conditions, the pilot could not judge the glide path properly and lost control. The pictures show a pretty damaged aircraft, I'm surprised no one was hurt badly and that there was not post-crash fire.

What is strange is the timing of this crash, so soon after the on in France. Could just be coincidence however, but who knows!
 
From what they're saying here, the simultaneous power outage at the airport itself was not caused by the plane supposedly hitting the antenna array on its landing approach:

AC 624 crash: clipped line didn't provide power directly to airport

CBC News, 29-03-2015

The power lines clipped by Air Canada flight AC 624, damage initially blamed for Halifax Stanfield International Airport's power outage, actually supplied no electricity directly to the facility.

Peter Spurway, airport spokesperson, said he was told today that the lines damaged by the crash supplied power to neighbouring residents, but not the airport.

However, the line's disruption did cause issues for a nearby Nova Scotia Power substation, which feeds electricity to the airport.

Spurway said officials are still investigating why on-site backup generators failed and left much of the airport without lighting, electricity or internet-based phone services for more than an hour.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

An indirect causal link via a substation? Perhaps. But it's still curious that the airport's back-up power system failed too.
 
I'd love to know what the approach landing is like at the Halifax airport. Is it an overbuilt area in some way that power lines are that close to the runway?
 
The power outage just before this crash is really strange for me too, especially now considering the outages in Turkey, and Turkish airline incidents... its all happening on the BBM...

Reminds me of the 14th March 2015 session where the C's mentioned about TDARM technology, and where their markers are place names, related to frequency and numerology. These incidents could probably be all related with elements of high strangeness; as i imagine the PTB always design airports and cities according to numerology, frequency and with specifically chosen names. Im not sure if this is deliberate 3D/4D STS manipulation, or effects from the arrival of the wave...
 
Up till now I've assumed that when they said the plane hit 'power lines/antenna array', this meant it clipped them as it made its final descent onto the actual runway. But the reports have consistently said that the plane touched down 365 meters (1,100 feet) before the beginning of the runway, so yes, it's plausible that it hit an array, power lines, ditches, moats, barriers, snow drifts and whatever else it ploughed through. I think I was confused because they phrased it as the plane touching down 'before the end of the runway' - leading me to think that the plane skidded the whole length of the runway and stopped 365 meters short of the other end/beginning!

:-[

cp-halifax-hard-landing-2.jpg
 
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