A plane had to make an emergency landing Wednesday night at Burlington International Airport.
An AirWisconsin flight, a regional carrier for US Airways, was approaching the airport when it reported a problem with its flaps. The Canadair regional jet had 51 people on board. After one aborted landing attempt, the plane was able to land safely.
“They had flap trouble, so the pilot took all the time in the world to make sure that he had enough front weight to get us down, and he did it perfectly,” said passenger Paul Lauzon of Montreal. “Overall, everybody did what they needed to do, everybody inside was quite calm. I guess it happens, and I guess it did, but I guess overall everything is good and we’re happy to be here.”
The temperature and wind chill dipped well-below zero Wednesday night, but the weather was not believed to have contributed to the plane’s mechanical difficulties.
WCAX News
We live in the prevailing wind glide path, sometimes I hear a sort of whine/whistle sound when aircraft are on approach. Is it the sound of a changing wing surface? Are pilots “dumping their flaps” to decrease altitude without decreasing forward speed? I can hear this distinctive sound come on suddenly, it doesn’t fade in. Feedback appreciated on my questions and this incident.
Seems quite co-incidental, both happened at very cold weather locations.
I know my flaps on my Sundowner struggle to retract without the aid of prop blast in weather colder then 32F (which is very rare down here).
Just makes me wonder, with jets being up in extreme cold at altitude and being colder then normal on the surface if some fluids (hydrolic or lubrication?) is getting too thick for normal ops and don’t get a chance to warm up during the descent?
Wish I had the details. Ours was a flight from Halifax. I think the plane was deiced in Halifax, Deer lake was at about -15C that day. I’ll try and find the specifics.
The variations in airspeed really don’t look that abnormal when compared to other flights for this particular flight number…
What is odd is the climb back up to 5000 maybe pilot recognized flaps were a problem and did a go around based on the ground track on the map at CYDF???
Ground speed would have dropped because of the climb during the go around??
It’s not to unusual for flight controls to freeze in flight. Esp. if the wrong lubricant is used. It was common for the ailerons in my Sabre to freeze, if we took of from warm/moist air ie FL or the Caribbean. It was common enough that there was a checklist for it. I think it happened once in the Lear too. Can’t really recall.
My only personal experience was on a BA-146 whose flaps failed to retract after take off from Montreal. Quick turn and we were back on the ground.
…as an aside.
Sabres. Nice. Did you have an Orenda behind you?
My uncle flew Hawker SeaFury’s when Canada had aircraft carriers and went on to fly rotary wing ( S-55 ) for the Canadian Navy.
His S-55 ended up in the Canadian Aviation Museum.
For those interested, here’s the caption on this photo:
N990PA (cn 306-114) Operated by Taylor Energy Co. This aircraft was the prototype for the Sabreliner 65 series. It still carries its construction number from the Sabreliner 60 series, from which it was converted. Also, in case you did not notice…this has got to be one of the best color schemes out there for a civil bizjet!
It’s almost hard to tell where the Sabre ends and the Eurocopter begins.
