Passengers Say Pilot Reported Computer Issue

ANN REALTIME UPDATE: 01.11.08 1145 EST: Was turbulence really to blame for an incident onboard an Air Canada Airbus A319 Thursday? Early reports indicated the aircraft hit a rough patch of air on its trip from Victoria, BC to Toronto... but passengers say the pilot told them of an additional problem once the aircraft came back under control.

"The pilot came on very shortly afterwards to say that the computer was knocked out -- and I don't know if that was before this happened or after -- and that they were on manual pilot, so he was flying the plane and assured us that the plane was under their control," said passenger Jayne Harvey to CTV.

The Transport Canada preliminary report also states the possibility of an issue with the aircraft's flight management system computer will be investigated:

ACA 190, an A319 with 88 people on board, was en route from Victoria to Toronto when the crew advised ATC of an aircraft upset that resulted in the aircraft doing a roll. The flight was in the vicinity of ONSET intersection (Washington state) about 65 NM southwest of Cranbrook when the crew informed Seattle Center that they were having difficulty controlling the aircraft. It is not known at this point if there was a flight management system problem or whether this event was related to turbulence.

Vancouver ACC accepted control of the aircraft at 1450z. The crew declared an emergency, requested diversion to Calgary International Airport and requested medical assistance upon arrival. ACA 190 landed about 30 minutes later at 1529z and stopped on Runway 34 for visual inspection of the aircraft by airport emergency response personnel. The crew then taxied off the runway at 1533z. It was reported that there are some passengers with serious injuries. Medical assistance was on standby upon arrival. TSB Edmonton has sent two investigators to YYC.

Aviation expert Mark Miller told Canada AM of other possible explanations -- that the aircraft may have encountered wake turbulence from another aircraft, or experienced another complication.

"It's interesting, I talked to one of the investigators in the States yesterday, and one of the things that they were checking was to see if there were any airplanes traveling on that airway, on that air route that might have been at a higher altitude and maybe a little ahead of this airplane," Miller said. "...One of the other things they want to investigate is whether or not there was some sort of mechanical or sort of control surface malfunction. Did a flap on one side accidentally or inexplicably deploy. Did something happen?"

It's evident that SOMETHING happened to ACA Flight 190... causing the aircraft to drop 4,000 feet in a matter of seconds, resulting in injuries to several passengers and crew onboard and an emergency landing in Calgary. ANN will update this story as more information becomes available.

Original Report

An Air Canada Airbus A319 carrying 83 passengers and crew from Victoria, British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario Thursday made an emergency landing in Calgary, Alberta after encountering turbulence that injured several people.

CTV News reports the plane landed safely at Calgary Airport about 8:30 am local time. Four passengers were released from the hospital, while six others -- four passengers and two crew members -- were admitted to the hospital. All are expected to recover.

Passengers described being tossed around violently as the plane dropped sharply, and rolled left and right. 50-year-old passenger Pritam Sunter told CTV, "I felt like I was tossed around along the window, back and forth, and it felt like the plane was going down -- and I thought 'we're dying.' Nobody had a chance (to react), it just happened too quickly."

Sunter said she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, because she had just returned to her seat and was about to read a book. Her husband, Amar, said the plane then suddenly "jerked to the left and people were tossed about. Then it went to the right."

The couple said the pilots were able to bring the plane under control, and announced on the intercom that the autopilot had malfunctioned.

The plane was met by emergency crews when it landed at Calgary. Stuart Brideaux of Calgary Emergency Medical Services told CTV, "The City of Calgary Emergency Medical Services has transported a total of six patients to area hospitals with stable but potentially life-threatening (injuries)."

Dr. Rob Abernethy, the Calgary Health Region's executive medical director, told reporters, "They are mostly muscular, skeletal injuries that one would normally see if one was bounced around, having falls, that type of thing."

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick would not confirm reports that the injuries were caused by flight turbulence, saying only, "It's going to take a bit of time to determine exactly what happened, I would encourage people to refrain from speculation. At this point we're dealing with our passengers and our crew and their families to make sure they're taken care of."

Two passengers, a man and a woman, told reporters they were in the plane's first class section, and a friend with them was among the injured. "It happened very fast," said the woman. "One side of the plane just went up a little sideways and then it just sort of went back down. Our friend was really hurt, so we really want to get to her. ... She flew up and hit the ceiling and right back down."

The male passenger said he didn't know whether turbulence was to blame, but the entire episode was brief. "We don't know, it was 15 seconds and then it was gone," he said.

Relatives concerned about the status of passengers on the flight can call 1-800-961-7099 for more information.

FMI: www.aircanada.com