A Halifax woman is still grappling with the aftershock of a traumatic landing during an Air Canada flight at the Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia.

Nikki Valentine is a 22-year-old student at Dalhousie University and was flying back home Saturday night, after visiting family over the holidays in Newfoundland.

She tells our newsroom the flight operating under Provincial Airlines (PAL) was smooth until things took a turn for the worse when the plane touched down on the runway and had trouble with its landing gear.

“We were tilted inside the cabin and then we all saw sparks on the left side of the plane. And then we began to see fire on the left side of the plane, which would have been the wing scraping against the runway and definitely the engine as well.”

Valentine says, that’s then she knew something was really wrong.

“I was like ok, something really bad is going to happen. After seeing the scraping I just kind of kept repeating to myself, ‘oh my God, oh my God, oh my God’, because that’s really all you can do.”

Then she says, the aircraft started filling up with smoke “very rapidly” and everyone got off the plane as fast as they could and once outside saw some of the aircraft was on fire.

“We came up and we saw that part of the plane wing was flat on the pavement. Part of it was still attached. But [it] was bent at an angle from scraping against the runway. And when we came out the left wing and the left engine were on fire.”

Emergency crews were on hand she says, very quickly.

They did a few head counts, assessed for injuries and the runway itself was briefly shut down to all other flights.

Photo: Nikki Valentine

Starting to hit hard

Now that she has had time to process, Valentine says, what happened is a lot scarier now than it was in the moment.

“No one on a plane ever thinks that’s going to happen. You don’t plan for an emergency procedure. It just happens and you have to follow directions as best you can. So obviously, I was in shock…but I kind of just …we had just kind of had to get it in gear as fast as we could.”

She says, adrenaline kind of took over at the time, but now the gravity of the situation is starting to set in.

“There was a video going around of the landing itself from the perspective of the left side of the plane. I watched it.  I watched it again today and I couldn’t even look at it.  I just seized right up.”

She says, looking back, it could have been so much worse than what happened.

Runway reopened

No serious injuries were reported but the plane stayed on the runway for nearly 24 hours while the Transportation Safety Board started its investigation.

Valentine says she had belongings left on board like her wallet and winter jacket and was told by Air Canada it would be a few days before she could get them back.

As of Sunday evening, the safety board cleared the scene allowing the airport the ability to move the plane.

In a statement on social media, Monday morning the Halifax airport said both runways were reopened.

“Thank you to our Emergency Response Team and our partners for their safe and efficient handling of this incident. Safe and secure operations remain our top priorities.”

Second recent emergency landing

This is PAL’s second emergency incident involving landing gear within the last couple of months.

On October 31, a plane requested an emergency landing shortly after takeoff.

A passenger on that flight told our newsroom a wheel had come loose during the landing and caught on fire.

A picture she took shows one of the wheels was deflated.