News / Vancouver airport closes runway after Cargojet's Amazon flight skids off tarmac

Image: Goole Earth/AV Herald

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has been forced to close its North Runway after an aircraft operated on behalf of Amazon’s Prime Air skidded off the tarmac.

The Cargojet B767 overran the runway’s eastern boundary in the early hours of yesterday (19 November) morning, local time, with reports circulating that the plane’s nose gear collapsed as a consequence. The airport has suggested operations may be suspended for up to 48 hours.

In an update issued earlier today, YVR stated: “The North Runway remains closed at due to an aircraft incident. This closure will have an impact on YVR operations and flight schedules.

“More than 50 people from various teams, including representatives from YVR, the TSB, Cargojet, and Air Canada’s heavy aircraft removal crew are collaborating on a strategy to safely remove the aircraft.”

However, it added that, “there is no immediate estimate on how long this work will take. The North Runway will remain closed while the site is assessed.”

Details of what went wrong have yet to be released, but Aviation Herald claimed the aircraft, on route from Hamilton, had informed air traffic control of a fault with the plane’s landing flaps and that, as a result, it would be forced to land at a higher speed than normal.

Citing the LiveATC website, the Vancouver Sun quoted the pilot as having informed officials at YVR, “we have a flight control problem, we need to run a checklist”.

Confirming the issue was related to a “leading-edge flap asymmetry”, the pilot was told that the airport would dispatch fire trucks as a precautionary measure, with emergency service personnel warned that the plane would be “coming in fast”.

Despite overshooting the runway by more than 570 metres, a YVR spokesperson said, “there were no injuries reported and the Cargojet crew of three were safely deplaned”.

Via Air Cargo News, Cargojet confirmed “an incident involving one of our all-cargo flights occurred early this morning upon its arrival in Vancouver. The aircraft departed the prepared surface after landing, and recovery operations are underway.

“Details of the aircraft condition are being assessed and the senior executive team is closely monitoring developments to effectively manage the situation.”

Meanwhile, The Loadstar also reported today that the announcement of Amazon’s freighter arm accepting air cargo from third parties like freight forwarders has been greeted with frowns