‘Hard landing’ due to excessive pitch - TSB

Safety watchdog said damage to Porter Airlines aircraft's tail, gear June 28 was “substantial”

A Porter Airlines plane’s tail contact with a runway at the Fredericton airport last year was just the latest instance of an issue with that particular Bombardier aircraft, Ottawa’s safety watchdog reported Thursday.

Porter Airlines flight PTR 2375, travelling Ottawa to Fredericton, experienced a safety issue in its first landing attempt at Fredericton International Airport at about 2 p.m. on June 28.

Pictured is a Bombardier DHC-8-402 aircraft, like the one involved in the June 28 hard landing at the Fredericton International Airport. (Photo: Porter Airlines)

.The aircraft experienced what investigators called “a hard landing” when its tail section made contact with the runway, prompting the flight crew to resume flying and made a second, successful run at landing.

The incident prompted an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada, the federal government’s transportation-sector safety watchdog agency. The TSB released its investigation report Thursday.