Quebecair Flight 255 was a scheduled flight from

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. On March 29, 1979, the

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...

, registered CF-QBL, that was operating the flight crashed minutes after takeoff when an engine exploded. All three crew and 14 of the 21 passengers died.

Crash

Following takeoff from Jean Lesage International Airport, the flight crew advised the

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

of a problem with their right engine. The plane was given clearance for an

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

. It circled the airport twice with flames emanating from one engine. The plane began the final turn in its landing sequence before crashing into a hillside. "I heard a loud explosion and rushed out and saw the plane in flames" one witness said. Firemen arrived at the scene within minutes, but it was reported they were "unable to approach the burning wreckage for some time because of the extreme heat." Ambulances had difficulty reaching the accident site because they had to cross a railway line. "Most of the people were not dead. Several died during the first half-hour after the accident. There were limbs cut off. We had to be careful when we were moving them," one woman told journalists.

Investigation

The flight data recorders were recovered soon after the crash. Canadian investigators concluded that shortly after the twin-

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

airliner lifted off, the low pressure impeller from the no. 2

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

burst, causing the forward part of the engine to separate. The flight crew were unable to raise the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

because debris from the engine damaged the electronic gear selection circuitry. This, together with the exposed engine, increased the aerodynamic drag dramatically, and the aircraft was unable to climb or maintain

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

during its final turn. The

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...

shifted beyond its aft limit due to the engine separation and passenger movement, causing the

airspeed In aviation, airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air. Among the common conventions for qualifying airspeed are: * Indicated airspeed ("IAS"), what is read on an airspeed gauge connected to a Pitot-static system; * Calibrated ...

to drop below the

minimum control speed The minimum control speed (VMC) of a multi-engine aircraft (specifically an airplane) is a V-speed that specifies the calibrated airspeed below which directional or lateral control of the aircraft can no longer be maintained, after the failure of ...

shortly before the aircraft struck the hillside.ASN Aircraft accident Fairchild F-27 CF-QBL Quebec, QC
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References

{{coord missing, Quebec Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 Airliner accidents and incidents in Canada Quebecair accidents and incidents Accidents and incidents involving the Fairchild F-27 March 1979 events in Canada 1979 in Quebec