Plane makes emergency landing in Newfoundland, 51 aboard
Thursday, November 15, 2018, 1:31 PM - A plane headed for Deer Lake in western Newfoundland made an emergency landing at Stephenville airport today because of an issue with its landing gear.
The Provincial Airlines Flight 1922 plane tried to land in Deer Lake when it encountered the problem, the airline said in a news release.
Given adverse weather conditions in Deer Lake, the pilot circled around before heading to Stephenville, where an emergency landing was necessary.
There were 47 passengers and four crew aboard the Dash 8 aircraft, PAL said, and no injuries.
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Gene Babb, who was on the flight, said the pilot and crew did a "phenomenal job" under the circumstances.
"I survived a plan crash. It's something to say. It's not often or not many people who get to be involved in that," Babb told CBC News.
"Not that you would want to, but no, I just look back and think it's cool. Great job. I was more impressed with the pilot and the crew. They were phenomenal, I gotta say."
Babb said the flight was originally scheduled to land in Deer Lake before carrying on to St. John's, but the pilot found an issue with the landing gear.
'EVERYTHING WILL BE OK'
They circled around for another hour and eventually the flight made its way to Stephenville.
The pilot came on the announcement system to tell people to prepare for an emergency landing, and Babb said that's when people got nervous.
"When they announced that we had to be in cross position for landing, to put your head down or your hands across the back of your chair, that's when people started getting a little bit worried and panicked," he said.
"You had kids crying, some of the guys were nervous and stuff like that. That's when I guess it got real."
Babb himself has put some hours in flying an aircraft, his father was a pilot and his sister-in-law is a pilot for Air Canada, so he said he wasn't nervous.
"I was trying to calm the passengers around me down, let them know everything will be OK," said Babb.
"The landing was actually extremely smooth and the plane came to a stop and had a bit of a jolt, and no more to it than that."
Some people were crying when they got off the plane, but more out of relief than out of fear, he said.
"More excitement of course when the plane stopped and all was good," Babb said.
"It was nothing like I was expecting. I was expecting more of a grind coming to a halt, but you didn't even feel it."
Babb said passengers are waiting at the airport and eating pizza while they await for the arrival of PAL staff, who are en route to Stephenville at the moment, according to a release from the airline.
