News provided by The ChronicleHerald
Andrew Rankin (arankin@herald.ca) on 4 March 2019
It was the flight that Stephanie Ray and her twins won’t soon forget.
“When it was all over I sent my husband a text saying, ‘Thank goodness, this could have ended up so much differently.’
“The captain was very calm and the entire crew did a great job.”
Her children Skyler and Storme McNeil sat safely beside her aboard Air Canada Flight 614 on Monday night at about 9 p.m. The plane had slid off a runaway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and had come to rest in a snowbank, she said. The trio had been waiting to deplane for about two hours, after travelling most of the day from Victoria, B.C.
The Chronicle Herald could not immediately reach anyone for comment at the Halifax airport. But the airport’s Twitter account did confirm an incident did occur on the runway.
Runway 05/23 currently closed due to aircraft from arriving flight AC 614 unable to make it to gate. TSB advised and sending a local team to assess. AC may choose to deplane passengers & transport to terminal in interim. More info posted as available.
Halifax Stanfield✔@HfxStanfield
Ray said that nobody appeared to be hurt but several people were rattled by the incident
“It was quite rough coming in. They engaged what I thought was the brakes full on and the plane started turning.
“A lot of women were crying. There was no big bang but it was a bit scary initially.”
She said the runway was closed following the landing. She said buses were in the process of being sent to the plane to deliver passengers to the airport.
CBC reported Monday night that flight operations resumed at the airport by about 8:30 p.m.
Multiple flights unable to land at Halifax due to 100% iced-over runways, now diverting to Fredericton and Ottawa. Controllers just joked there isn’t enough hotel space in Fredericton to hold the swarm of passengers unexpectedly now spending the night there.3:39 PM – Mar 4, 2019T
James Collins@JamesCollinsNS
Appears there’s an Air Canada 767 stuck on the runway at Halifax. Tried to exit to taxi but couldn’t move, and then started sliding sideways. Trucks en-route. @CBCNS @chronicleherald 3:23 PM – Mar 4, 2019T
ames Collins@JamesCollinsNS