Thunder Bay – NEWS – A scary moment for passengers and crew of an Air Bravo Corp. Pilatus PC-12/47 (C-FWAL/AB1776) flight from Bearskin Lake, ON (CNE3) to Thunder Bay, ON (CYQT) that happened back in November has been updated by Transport Canada.
A Pilatus PC-12/47 operated by Air Bravo as flight AB1776, was on descent for Runway 25 at Thunder Bay, ON (CYQT) with 2 crew and 3 passengers on board.
During the initial descent, the crew heard a loud bang coming from the nose of the aircraft, followed by an immediate “nose gear unsafe” indication in the cockpit.
During the final approach, the crew selected “landing gear down” and received a “down and locked” indication for the left and right main gear, but the “nose gear unsafe” indication remained.
Cycling of the landing gear and use of the emergency gear extension failed to get a “nose gear down and locked” indication.
A fly-by the tower revealed that the nose gear was only partially extended.
The crew conducted several firm touchdowns on the runway to try and force the nose gear down, but was unsuccessful.
The crew then requested to land on Runway 12 and declared an emergency.
While on short final, the engine was intentionally shut down and the aircraft was force landed.
During the landing, the nose gear collapsed completely and the aircraft came to a stop on the centre line of the runway.
The crew and passengers then exited the aircraft without injury.
The aircraft sustained substantial damage and was subsequently removed from the runway.
An inspection of the aircraft by the operator’s maintenance personnel revealed that the right hand nose gear drag brace had failed.
Earlier report was of the incident as it it had happened in the past couple of days. This is an updated piece from the November 2020 incident.
