Air Canada flight catches fire on landing at Halifax airport

Copter makes emergency landing near Kathmandu

• A helicopter en route to Kathmandu carrying five US nationals had to make an emergency landing at Banepa, 50 km east of the capital, after it was hit by a bird on Sunday
• The 9N-AKG chopper, belonging to the private Heli Everest airlines, was coming from Lukla, gateway to Mt Everest, when it was struck by the bird at 11 am, an official said
• The pilot managed to land the aircraft safely, the official added

An Air Canada flight coming from St John’s city on Newfoundland Island had a rough landing at the Halifax airport in Goffs in Nova Scotia province that saw the aircraft skid down the runway and part of it catching fire.

A statement issued by the airport said the incident involved Air Canada Flight 2259, which was operated by PAL Airlines, CBC News reported.

The incident happened around 9.30 pm local time. 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, CBC News said.

Due to the incident, the Halifax airport was temporarily closed Saturday night.

A passenger told CBC News that one of the plane’s tyres 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.

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