Air Canada flight makes ‘heart-stopping’ rough landing amid heavy crosswinds

Passengers on the flight from Tokyo endured a bumpy arrival in Toronto

An Air Canada flight was caught on video making a hard landing at Toronto Pearson Airport in Ontario, Canada on Monday evening as gusty crosswinds battered the runway.

Flight AC2 arriving from Tokyo on 13 November was filmed struggling to touch down on runway 24L of Toronto’s biggest airport.

In a video shared by Wake Turbulence Aviation, the Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER can be seen rocking violently from side to side, bouncing off the runway as smoke plumes from the landing gear on the tarmac.

The incident was expertly handled by the pilot who stabilised the aircraft and avoided a crash landing on the runway at the end of the 12-hour flight.

Michael, the creator of the aviation channel, later posted the footage to YouTube with the caption: “Very heavy gusts created a heart-stopping moment on the live stream! Brilliant piloting saved this near-accident!”

In the video, the person filming can be heard saying, “Whoa! Go around”, referencing when pilots opt to take straight off again and come in for another landing amid tricky conditions. But the plane can be seen stabilising following the rocky start, and manages to land safely.

An Air Canada representative told blogTo, a Toronto news site, that the flight from Narita “experienced a hard landing due to crosswinds on arrival at Toronto Pearson.”

“Although the Boeing 777 aircraft taxied to the gate normally after landing, as a precautionary measure, it was taken out of service for a full inspection,” the airline added.

Thankfully, none of the 373 passengers on board were injured during the incident.

The video has been viewed 88,000 times since it was posted, with aviation fans “astounded” at the rough landing.

A commenter claiming to be a passenger on board said: “When the plane landed, I heard a heavy crash, the fuselage jumped suddenly, and my heart felt like it was ejected.”

“Whoa, that was crazy. That must have felt really rough for the passengers and flight crew. I hope everyone was strapped in,” wrote another.

The Independent has contacted Air Canada for further comment.