BREAKING NEWS: Pacific Coast plane catches fire after landing at Trail Regional Airport
By Bruce Fuhr
Passengers on a Pacific Coast flight to Trail received a scare when a fire started in the engine after the plane landed Tuesday afternoon at the Trail Regional Airport.
“The fire must have started after we landed because nobody screamed at the back of the plane,” said Pacific Coast passenger, Doug Stoddart from Nelson who was traveling back from Vancouver with wife Sharon.
“When I looked back I could see the flames coming out of the engine.”
“The pilot didn’t know about it because I had to tell him the engine is on flames,” Stoddart added. “Then he looked back and everybody quickly exited the plane.”
The plane, believed to be a Saab 340A which can carry 30 passengers, was the afternoon Pacific Coast Flight en route to the Trail Regional Airport from Vancouver. The flight arrived at around 4 p.m. PST.
Stoddart said plane landed safely and thought the fire may have started during the short taxi down the runway after touching down following the 75-minute flight from Vancouver.
However, Stoddart did not notice the fire until the plane stopped outside the airport terminal.
“The fire was in the right side engine . . .. It was totally in flames,” Stoddart explained. “We were on the other side of the plane and you could see the smoke rising over the plane.”
Stoddart said crews quickly contained the fire using foam retardant while hustling passenger away from the plane in an orderly fashion.
“They brought the foam retardant out to extinguish the fire and got everybody away from the plane,” he said. “(Crews) didn’t take the luggage off until everything was safe and the fire was put out.”
The Nelson Daily was unable to reach anyone at Pacific Coast Airlines but did leave a message with media spokesperson, Spencer Smith, Vice President of Commercial Services.
Smith later told CBC News the fire was quickly contained by on-board automated fire-suppression systems, which also would have worked if the plane had been aloft.
“The engine would shut down and the aircraft would still be able to operate safely with one engine to get where it was going,” Smith said.
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