N.S. judge to rule on proposed $18M Air Canada Halifax crash landing settlement

A judge is expected to rule in June on a proposed settlement for a class-action lawsuit involving a crash landing of an Air Canada flight in Halifax more than a decade ago.

Air Canada Flight 624 from Toronto struck power lines during a snowstorm at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in March 2015, causing the plane to land about 200 metres short of the runway. Twenty-five of the 133 passengers on board were injured.

The law firms involved in the class action issued a notice Monday saying the hearing is scheduled for June 22 in Nova Scotia's Supreme Court. Under the terms of the settlement, Air Canada, Nav Canada, and the Halifax International Airport Authority would pay a total of $18,075,000 to settle the class action, the notice said. That payment includes legal fees and expenses.

In an interview, Ray Wagner of Wagners law firm said it was entirely coincidental that the notice was issued less than a day after a collision between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport killed two pilots and sent 41 others to hospital. The law firms must give class members adequate notice of the hearing so they can prepare any objections they may have, Wagner said.

Filed in April 2015, the Flight 624 class action had been scheduled to go to trial earlier this year. However, Monday's notice said the settlement, if approved, would avoid "a lengthy trial and likely appeals," and probably include more generous compensation.

Air Canada would pay the bulk of the settlement — more than $15 million, according to case documents. The airline previously told The Canadian Press it was "satisfied the matter has been resolved."

Wagners, which is based in Halifax, is working with Nova Scotia's MacGillivray Law and Vancouver-based CFM Lawyers LLP on the case.

The Transportation Safety Board's final investigation report, released in 2017, said the plane was circling the airport just after midnight on Mar. 29, 2015, when the crew was told that visibility had improved to just under one kilometre, the minimum needed for landing.

The plane was placed in autopilot as it approached the airport, with the flight crew relying on the "localizer" radio beacon, which provides lateral guidance to align the aircraft with the runway's centre line. It does not provide information on altitude.

The board said the pilots did not take into account a headwind that was pushing the plane off its intended flight path. Air Canada's standard operating procedures at the time, the report said, did not require the flight crew to cross-check their altitude and distance — a procedural gap that has since been closed.

Realizing the danger, the captain poured on the thrust and pulled back on the stick to gain altitude, but it was too late.

A second later, one of the jet's tires hit an approach light about 260 metres from the runway. The aircraft clipped some power lines, knocking out power to the airport. The jet then struck a snowbank and the Airbus 320-211 smashed into an antenna array before bouncing twice along the runway for another 600 metres in a shower of sparks and leaking fuel.

MORE TOP STORIES