Plane’s tail struck runway during landing in Fredericton last summer: report

The Fredericton International Airport is pictured here.

A Porter airplane suffered significant damage after its tail touched the runway during a bumpy landing in Fredericton last June, according to a new report.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says Porter Flight 2375 bounced during the landing at the Fredericton International Airport on June 28, 2024. It later successfully landed and the Safety Board began a field and examination investigation. The results were released on Thursday.

According to the report, the flight – which had 74 passengers, two cabin crew members and two flight crew members – left the Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport around 12:45 p.m. and began to land in Fredericton around 2 p.m.

During the touchdown process, the aircraft – a twin-engine turboprop regional airliner – bounced on the runway. The “touched runway” light also went off, which meant the tail-section sensor had hit the surface.

At 2:08 p.m., the plane landed uneventfully and the flight crew taxied aircraft to the apron.

The report says the plane suffered “substantial damage” to its main landing gear and the fuselage due to the first landing attempt. The landing gear had to be replaced and the “touched runway” sensor was sheared off from the fuselage in the impact.

“There was no indication that a component or system malfunction played a role in this occurrence,” the report reads. “The aircraft’s weight and centre of gravity were within the prescribed limits.”

The report notes there was a headwind component of 5.5 knots that decreased to 0.5 knots within three seconds during the landing, which “most likely resulted in a decreased performance shear.”

“A decreased performance shear results from a rapidly decreasing head wind or an increasing tail wind,” it reads. “The effect of shear on an aircraft is particularly important during take-off and landing because it can cause stalls, undershoots or overshoots depending on the situation.”

Following the incident, Porter Airlines updated its standard operating procedures to include a new landing techniques section. After a bounced landing, pilots are instructed to apply full power and maintain the aircraft at a pitch attitude of no more than six degrees until they reach a point where a tail strike with the runway is no longer possible.

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