Air Canada Flight 646

Air Canada Flight 646 was a flight from Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport to Fredericton, New Brunswick, operated by Air Canada. On 16 December 1997, at 23:48 local time, the Canadair CRJ-100ER(CL-65) jet crashed after a failed go-around attempt in Fredericton. All passengers and crew survived, despite a 20 minute emergency response time and inadequate emergency training of the flight crew.

Crash

The weather in Fredericton was difficult—reported weather gave of vertical visibility and 1/8 of a mile in horizontal visibility. With the runway lights, the runway visibility was for landing on runway 15. At 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 off the centre line of the runway and as the plane approached above ground level the first officer reduced the engine thrust to idle speed. The captain, knowing the plane was off center and unsure how much runway was left, ordered a go-around.

Immediately, the first officer advanced the thrust levers, selected go-around mode for his flight director, and the aircraft began to pitch up. Almost immediately thereafter, the stick-shaker activated. 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...
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