Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) has filed a lawsuit against Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) over the crash of flight AC 624 on board A320 C-FTJP (msn 233) at Halifax in 2015, reports BNN. The airline claims that Airbus failed to advise that external forces could affect the flight path angle of the A320.
Although no one was killed in the accident, which occurred on March 29, the airport was left without power for several hours and twenty-three people were injured. According to an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), the A320 severed power lines during approach, impacted the ground short of runway 05/23 and slid along the runway before stopping 570 metres beyond the threshold. No mechanical deficiencies were found during the post-crash investigation.
Air Canada's claim says that flight crew correctly configured the aircraft for approach and landing and thus the landing should have gone as planned. "Instead, the aircraft descended at a steeper angle than expected and touched down short of the runway," the claim said.
This unexpected angle was due to negligence on behalf of Airbus, says Air Canada. "(Airbus) failed to provide adequate and/or accurate information as to how pilots should correct a deviation in the flight path in circumstances where manual intervention was required."
As at March 30, Airbus had not filed a statement of defence.
