Air Canada crash: Airline accused over 'hard landing' that saw Airbus A320 written off

 

'It was the closest I've ever come to death,' says one passenger who accuses the airline of 'political manoeuvrings'

Air accident investigators say 133 passengers had a “lucky” escape after an Air Canada plane crash-landed landed short of a runway, was ripped apart by a bank of antennas and came skidding to a halt on its belly.

The Airbus A320 was completely written off late on Saturday night after the impact sheared off its landing gear, an engine and its nose cone – yet only 25 people were injured, all but one of whom have since been released from hospital.

Air Canada’s executives used the technical term “hard landing” to describe the incident during a press conference on Sunday – but passenger Mike Magnus described that as “obvious political manoeuvrings”.

“This was not a hard landing. This was an actual crash,” said the 60-year-old businessman who was sitting in the front row.