Canada - Emergency Landing in YQB Friday night?




ofohsho
Jan 14, 12, 7:31 am
Hi all,

Does anyone any information about a flight that landed between 10-11pm last night at Quebec City Airport?

Apparently everyone was safe, but whatever happened, it led to quite an ordeal for United 5833.

Our flight was supposed to land at YQB from ORD at about 9:45pm. Upon descent, the captain informed us that a flight just ahead of ours had declared an emergency landing and would be given priority while we remained in a hold. After circling for about 30 minutes, the captain informed us that the flight with the emergency landing had evacuated on the runway, that everyone was safe, but the weather had "deteriorated" and we were "now at critical fuel level" and couldn't afford to land in Quebec, and nearby YUL's weather was just as bad. We had to divert instead to Bangor, Maine (a rough, nerve-wracking landing). Not only was the airport more or less closed for the evening, but it doesn't serve United and did not have a customs office (even though we had never touched Canadian soil, the US Customs official claimed that we had been "in Canada" and thus had to go through customs). We waited on the plane for a while as the team tried to resolve the situation. Eventually, the captain said he had more bad news; after 30 more minutes, he could no longer legally fly. He decided to call for an immediate take off, and flew us 20 minutes away to Portland, Maine, where we were able to deplane and get hotels for the night (never did pass through customs, ahem).

The crew did a FANTASTIC job of remaining friendly, open, and "down-to-earth" (har har) throughout the entire evening. But, as we continue this little adventure (currently waiting will all original passengers and crew at Portland for a flight out), we are curious as to what the emergency was that led to all these diversions! There doesn't seem to be any information anywhere.

Woo, that was a rambling post.

Thanks for any info :)


Wally Bird
Jan 14, 12, 1:47 pm
Wait a couple of days and details will likely appear on CADORS (http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/cadors-screaq/qs.aspx?lang=eng)

seepeejay
Jan 14, 12, 2:59 pm
I was on this flight...PD 512 (Porter Airlines YQB > YTZ-Toronto-City-Centre). http://flightaware.com/live/flight/POE512

We took off about 3 hours late at 9PM, and upon taxi-ing to the runway we held position and the pilot came on mentioning that we had to get the engines warmed up as the plane was sitting in -20C temperatures all day. It previously was suppose to leave Quebec at 10:30AM.

About 20 minutes into the flight as soon as service began a set of lights came on in the cabin and there was a faint burning/fuel smell. At this point the crew packed the carts away, and some special lighting came on in the cabin.

After another 5 minutes or so it was clear that something was up, the flight attendants began pulling out suitcases with emergency equipment, and the pilot came on with a cracked voice, explaining that it seems there was a mechanical issue and that we were going to circle back and make an emergency landing in YQB in 7-9 minutes.

Weather was extremely poor for the landing with the return of some freezing rain, and we were instructed to brace with arms crossed and heads between them.

We were flying at a fairly low altitude and unlike normal flights into YQB, were following the highway and making a total B-line to the airport. The landing wasn't too rough, but it definitely was agressive, the wheels were smoking when the 3 fire trucks greeted us on the runway.The fire dept came on board and once the cockpit door opened there was a fair bit of smoke in there, and the pilot had his respirator on.

The crew handled it extremely well, and even though they looked somewhat nervous, they managed to calm down a few younger and older patrons who had begun to panic a bit.

Never before was I happier to greet -30 temps! Definitely quite the ride...flew back this AM.

Glad to hear you also got back safely...I'm not the kind of guy to play the lottery but I may get a ticket this week based on the odds :)


mrkdips
Jan 15, 12, 9:17 am
crikey - a wee bit frightening - glad all was fine and the situation seems to have being handlied very professionally

ofohsho
Jan 17, 12, 10:36 am
Wow, what a distressing situation! Thanks for the info, glad to hear everyone was okay.

Wally Bird
Jan 17, 12, 4:05 pm
Still no report on CADORS, which is odd. The AvHerald has more details though:
http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4496ec87



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