Crash at Mirabel Airport (Montreal)
Ali Hammoud
A metroliner crashed at Montreal's Mirabel Airport at 7:45 EST this morning,
while trying to land. The aircraft had just taken off from Montreal's
Dorval Airport when the pilot reported smoke in the cabin and hydraulics
problems; the plane was directed, as requested by the pilot, to Mirabel
where witnesses reported that one of the engines and part of the wing and
the fuselage were on fire on final approach. The crew managed to land but
an explosion occured and the airplane tiped over before veering off the end
of runway 24.
All 9 passengers and 2 crew members on board are dead in what is the worst
accident ever to occur at Mirabel Airport. The commuter plane belonged to
Prop'Air, a Quebec-based company (established in 1954) with a good safety
record. The plane was en route to a town in Ontario.
I'll keep you posted.
Ali Hammoud
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hamm...@sprint.ca
ICQ: 9178438
http://www.mygale.org/~hammouda/
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Ali Hammoud
MIRABEL, Que. (CP) -- A small commuter plane engulfed in flames made a
desperate attempt to land at Mirabel airport this morning but exploded on
landing, killing everyone on board.
Eleven people, including two crew, were in the plane, said Mirabel airport
manager Ray Monette.
"There were probably no survivors on board, with the size of the flames and
the explosion that took place," Monette told a news conference.
Flames engulfed part of the wing and the fuselage and there was an explosion
on landing.
The King Air twin-engine turboprop left Dorval airport and was bound for
Peterborough, Ont.
The Peterborough Examiner said Flight 420 was a regularly chartered flight
into the city. The newspaper said sources told it that employees of General
Electric were on the flight but the company would not confirm that.
An employee with Prop Air confirmed the plane belonged to the airline, which
is based in Rouyn-Noranda.
Monette said voice transcripts indicate an engine caught fire after the
plane took off from Dorval. He said emergency vehicles were waiting for it
at Mirabel, but unfortunately the situation became "very unravelled" as the
aircraft came in for the emergency landing.
"The plane was on final approach ... engulfed in flames," he said.
"It would seem the pilot did succeed on landing the plane. But then the
aircraft exploded and veered off the runway."
He said the emergency vehicles put the fire out as "quickly as humanly
possible."
Firefighters administered first aid until ambulance crews arrived.
Rescue workers were to put the bodies in a temporary morgue at the airport
until relatives could identify them.
Sgt. Marcel Parent of the RCMP told CBC Newsworld the weather did not appear
to be a factor. It was cloudy but not raining this morning at the airport.
Mirabel airport, which is about 45 minutes north of Montreal, handles
between 100 and 120 cargo and charter flights a week. International flights
now fly out of Dorval.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Jean Chretien offered his condolences to the
victims' families, saying the event reminded everyone about the fragility of
life.
Transport Minister David Collenette said Mirabel airport was the scene of an
emergency simulation exercise two weeks ago and that Transport Canada
concluded a thorough check of the airport Tuesday. Emergency measures at the
airport were deemed adequate following both tests.
"It appears the emergency responses at Mirabel were there and performed
their tasks" following the crash, Collenette said in Ottawa.
When asked if the response was adequate, Collenette responded: "Yes,
absolutely."
He said a Transport Canada safety inspector has been designated and if any
deficiencies are found, they will be addressed immediately.
RCMP Cpl. Pierre Giguere said the plane crashed at 7:35 a.m. EDT.
Two hours later the smoke could be seen still billowing from the aircraft at
the end of one of Mirabel's runways, and emergency vehicles surrounded the
wreck.
Monette said it was the first such accident at Mirabel.
Brian Jenner, president of the association representing Quebec air
transporters, called Prop Air the "cream of the crop" among carriers in the
province.
"Its owners, Jean Pronovost and Louis Pronovost, are men who are true
professionals who were born for aviation," he said. "They're people who are
respected in the Quebec aviation community."
The company was founded in 1946 and logs about 2,000 flights a year.
"It's one of our most important air carriers," Jenner said. He was also
stunned that the crash involved a Metroliner aircraft.
"It's an aircraft that has been in service for a number of years, it has a
very good reputation, it's a modern technology, everything is modern."
Ali Hammoud
Tim the Tower Man
Ali Hammoud wrote in message <898189686.586878@michelob>...
>MIRABEL, Que. (CP) -- A small commuter plane engulfed in flames made a
>desperate attempt to land at Mirabel airport this morning but exploded on
>landing, killing everyone on board.
8><
>The King Air twin-engine turboprop left Dorval airport and was bound for
>Peterborough, Ont.
8><
>"It's one of our most important air carriers," Jenner said. He was also
>stunned that the crash involved a Metroliner aircraft.
So was it a King Air or a Metroliner?
Tim Marett
aka Tim the Tower Man
Club Captain
Manawatu Districts Aero Club
http://www.aeroclub.co.nz/
Any opinions I express are my own and not those of Manawatu Districts Aero
Club (Inc) or of my employer
tim_the_tower_man is my user id and
Clear net (in New Zealand) is my ISP
Ali Hammoud
MONTREAL (CP) -- The investigation into Thursday's fatal air crash in nearby
Mirabel is focusing on a possible link between a hydraulic leak and an
engine fire and not on pilot error.
Ghislain Charron of the Transportation Safety Board said Friday it's too
early to make a connection in the accident which killed all 11 occupants of
the Fairchild Metroliner belonging to Propair.
But a problem with the hydraulic system which operates the landing gear led
to an incident with another Propair Metroliner in Northern Quebec in 1996,
he noted.
"That's why we are looking very closely at what happened to that hydraulic
system as one option," said Charron. "The second option is what happened to
the engine."
The plane's landing gear is directly under the engine.
David Austin, public affairs officer with the Transportation Safety Board
of Canada, added that another Metroliner had an engine fire and hydraulic
problems in Winnipeg in 1990 but landed safely.
The pilot of the ill-fated Propair Metroliner reported the hydraulic leak
shortly after takeoff Thursday morning and asked to return to the airport
although the incident was not considered threatening.
When fire subsequently broke out in one of the plane's two engines, he was
directed to the nearest runway at Mirabel Airport.
He managed to control the fire and land the aircraft but it exploded,
veered off the runway and flipped.
The fully-extended wheels stuck above the half-charred wreckage.
Charron said the investigation could take a year but the cause will be made
public as soon as it's found.
A crane was brought to the site and some 16 inspectors continued to comb
the area for debris on Friday. Chief inspector Jean Desjardins said the
aircraft's remains will be taken by truck today to the board's lab in
Ottawa.
A key piece is the cockpit voice recorder which had been installed only two
weeks ago.
Besides communications with control towers, the recorder would contain the
final conversations between the pilots and noises inside and outside the
plane.
The nine passengers -- two of them women -- were all employees of General
Electric Canada on their way to a GE plant in Peterborough, Ont. The Maple
Leaf flew at half-staff over the GE plants in suburban Lachine and at
Peterborough.
GE has offered counsellors to help employees to cope with the tragedy,
Canada's worst air disaster in nearly 10 years.
Propair president Jean Pronovost, who lost two pilots in the crash, said
Friday the company's 25 remaining pilots were told they could book off, but
"they all indicated they wanted to keep flying, to be able to put this event
behind them."
The 11 victims, all from the Montreal area, were: Leo Dumas, 42, of
Pointe-Claire; Jean-Francois Fontaine, 25, St-Constant; Normand Girard, 27,
Montreal; Ronald Habberfield, 45, Dorval; Sudhir Khare, 47, Brossard;
Chantal Lessard, 28, Mont-St-Hilaire; Nathalie Pilotte, 30, Boucherville;
Jean Provencher, 35, Montreal; Vishal Sachdeva, 27, Ste-Genevieve; Laurie
Seybold, 58, Beaconsfield; and Walter Stricker, 35, of L'Acadie.
Seybold's father was stunned.
"It's a big shock," Hugh Seybold told Montreal La Presse.
Seybold said his daughter-in-law is in Africa and was unaware of her
husband's death.
Autopsies were performed Friday on the bodies of the pilots and some of the
passengers. Dr. Serge Turmel, assistant chief coroner, said the bodies had
multiple fractures, indicating they died on impact.
Wayne Foy, president of the union representing 600 Transportation Safety
Board aviation inspectors, said the division has lost about 80 people in the
last four years and is insufficiently staffed to do a good job.
Foy did not suggest Propair was not well run, but he said the board is
"operating on a shoestring budget" and is endangering the lives of air
travellers, especially those who fly on small planes.
"We've got companies out there we haven't seen in four or five years. We
should be auditing them every two years.
"It sounds as though the company (Propair) is well run, but there's others
out there we know we must monitor more vehemently."
Ali Hammoud
>So was it a King Air or a Metroliner?
>Tim Marett
It was a Metroliner...
Ralph Nesbitt
<sniped>
The 11 victims, all from the Montreal area, were: Leo Dumas, 42, of
Pointe-Claire; Jean-Francois Fontaine, 25, St-Constant; Normand Girard, 27,
Montreal; Ronald Habberfield, 45, Dorval; Sudhir Khare, 47, Brossard;
Chantal Lessard, 28, Mont-St-Hilaire; Nathalie Pilotte, 30, Boucherville;
Jean Provencher, 35, Montreal; Vishal Sachdeva, 27, Ste-Genevieve; Laurie
Seybold, 58, Beaconsfield; and Walter Stricker, 35, of L'Acadie.
Ali Hammoud
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hamm...@sprint.ca
ICQ: 9178438
http://www.mygale.org/~hammouda/
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Some one said: To those for whom the bell has rung, may it never ring again.