Air Canada Flight 646

Air Canada Flight 646 was a scheduled domestic flight from Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport to Fredericton, New Brunswick, operated by Air Canada. On December 16, 1997, at 23:48 local time, the Canadair CRJ100ER (CL-65) jet crashed after a failed go-around attempt in Fredericton. All passengers and crew survived, despite a 1-hour, 30-minute emergency response time and inadequate emergency training of the flight crew. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off, making the accident the second hull loss of a CRJ100.

Accident

The weather in Fredericton was difficult — reported weather gave 100 ft of vertical visibility and 1/8 of a mile (200 m) of horizontal visibility. With the runway lights, the runway visibility was 1200 ft for landing on runway 15. At 200 ft above ground level the captain approved the landing, and the first officer, who was the pilot flying, responded that he would land the plane. Once the first officer disengaged the autopilot, the aircraft drifted left of the centre line of the runway and above the proper glidepath, and, as the plane approached 80 ft above ground level, the first officer reduced the engine thrust to idle speed. The captain, knowing the plane was off centre and unsure how much runway was left, ordered a go-around; the first officer had independently come to the same conclusion at about the same time.

Immediately, the first officer advanced the thrust levers, selected go-around mode for his flight director, and pulled back on his control column, and the aircraft began to pitch up. Almost immediately thereafter, the stick shaker activated. Although the first officer reduced the back pressure on his control column, the aircraft continued to pitch up, and soon went into a stall.

The aircraft banked sharply to the right until the wingtip contacted the runway, bending the wing upwards by four feet. Then the aircraft levelled off until the nose contacted the runway. This broke off the right winglet and the nose landing gear, destroyed the radome, and caused heavy damage to the underside of the aircraft. All electrical power except the emergency lighting was lost. By this time, the engines had reached full power, and the aircraft was rolling on its main gear, off the right side of the runway, through the snow, until it hit a ditch that ran parallel to the runway. This sent the plane airborne, where it flew about 1000 ft, struck some trees, and finally came to rest. One large tree had entered the cabin through the main passenger door and cut a path in the fuselage through the first five rows of seats.

The flight attendant, during the crash sequence, shouted brace position commands and once the aircraft stopped, immediately evacuated the aircraft with the assistance of an off-duty flight attendant. Some passengers could not be extricated and required rescue from the Fire Services.

There was no fire on board the aircraft, no fatalities, and many on board were able to evacuate safely. A number of severely injured passengers had to be extracted from the aircraft with the "jaws of life" prior to receiving medical treatment.