10 accidents of Canadair aircraft since 2000

An Air Canada express (Jazz) Canadair CRJ-900 took off from Montreal, Canada for a passenger flight to New York La Guardia, NY, USA. 72 passengers and 4 crew members were onboard. The plane collided with a fire truck during landing. The captain and first officer died in the accident, two fire fighters on board the truck received serious injuries, 9 passengers received serious injuries, 32 passengers received minor injuries.

The Canadair CRJ-900 operated by Endeavor Airlines on behalf of Delta Airlines took off from Minneapolis, MN, USA for a passenger flight to Toronto, ON, Canada. 76 passengers and 4 crew members were onboard. The plane crash landed on Toronto's runway 23. The CRJ-900 has been destroyed. There were no fatalities, however, one person was critically injured, 7 others received minor injuries.

The Canadair CRJ-700 operated by A PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines took off from Wichita, Kansas, USA, for a passenger flight to Washington National,DC, USA. 60 passengers and 4 crew members were onboard. The CRJ-700 had been cleared to land by ATC and was on final approach to Washington National's airport descending through about 200 feet AGL about 0.6 NM (1km) before the runway threshold when the aircraft collided with a military Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Both the CRJ-700 and the helicopter fell into the Potomac River. All 64 occupants and 3 occupants from the helicopter were killed.

The Canadair CRJ-200 operated by West Atlantic Sweden took off from Oslo, Norway, for a cargo flight to Tromso, Norway. Two crewmembers were onboard. The plane was enroute at FL 330 (33,000 ft or 10km) when it vanished from radar. The plane crashed on the side of a mountain northwest of Lake Akkajaure about 10km from the border to Norway in mountainous area without road access, about 1000 meters above sea level. Both crewmembers were killed. The jet was operating a cargo flight with 4.5 tons of mail and parcels. It took off uneventfully and reached its cruise altitude. A few minutes later, while the plane was enroute at FL330 about 75nm west of Kiruna (Sweden) in the border region between Norway and Sweden, the crew declared emergency. The aircraft disappeared from radar immediately thereafter. The crash site is very small, overall diameter being 50 meters, and is evidence of a high energy impact, suggesting the aircraft came down near vertical. The weather conditions weren't harsh at the time of the accident.

The Canadair CRJ-200 operated by Scat Airline took off from Kokshetau, Kazakhstan, for a domestic flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan. 16 passengers and 5 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed during its final approach to Almaty. All 21 occupants perished. The Canadian-built Bombardier Challenger CRJ-200 was on final approach to Almaty's runway 23R in poor visibility due to fog when the crew decided to go around but the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. The plane came down near the village of Kyzyl Tu, 1400 meters short of the runway threshold, in swampy terrain. There was no fire, no explosion, but the impact was so violent that the aircraft had been pulverized. Parts of the plane could be seen in the thick snow. Weather conditions were bad at the time of the accident, with thick fog and low visibility. The actual horizontal visibility was at 300 meters and vertical at 30 meters, requiring a CatIIIb capability, the crew was thus not permitted to land in these conditions, however was permitted to descend down to decision height (30 meters for this particular CRJ-200). The aircraft had planned for two alternate aerodromes, Karagranda and Astana, and carried sufficient fuel to reach either alternate after a go-around. Scat Airline is a private Kazakh airline blacklisted by the European community.

The Canadair CRJ-100ER, operated on behalf of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), took off from Kisangani, Congo, to Kinshasa N'Djili. 29 passengers and 4 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed on landing at Kinshasa N'Djili airport. 32 people were killed, and one person survived. Torrential rain, thunderstorms and low visibility were reported at the time of the accident. The plane was on an instrument approach to Kinshasa N'Djili's runway 24 in those bad weather conditions but it missed its landing, smashed into pieces upon ground contact and came to rest off the runway abeam the military apron. Kinshasa Ndjili airport’s runway 06/24 is officially 4650 meters long, however due to very poor runway condition the threshold of runway 24 had to be displaced leaving a runway length of about 3400 meters available.

The Canadian-built CRJ-100 operated by Belavia was on a passenger flight between Yerevan, Armenian capital, bound for Minsk, Belarus capital, with 18 passengers and three crew members on board. The plane crashed on take-off, injuring 10 people. The plane was taking off from Yerevan-Zvartnots Airport (10 km west of Yerevan) when it slid off the runway. One wing hit the ground, and the aircraft flipped over, splitting into two parts and catching fire. The 50-seater CRJ-100 has been destroyed by the fire. Miraculously, there is no fatality. Ten people were taken to hospital with injuries, some of them being seriously burnt. A probable cause of the accident is icing on the wings which caused the left wing to stall upon lift-off. Icing conditions were reported at the airport during the crash.

Delta Flight 5191 was en route from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The plane crashed a mile from the airport shortly after take-off. The aircraft was largely intact afterward, but there was a fire following the impact. The flight was operated by a CRJ-100 regional jet belonging to Delta's commuter carrier, Comair. There were 46 passengers, three crew members and one off-duty crew member on board. Only the first officer survived. The plane took off from the wrong runway. The main runway at Lexington's airport is 7,000 feet long, while a daytime-only, general aviation runway is about 3,500 feet. The plane would have needed 5000 ft to take off. Aerial images of the crash site showed trees damaged at the end of the short runway and the nose of the plane almost parallel to the small strip. Moreover, ground scars mark the end runway, suggesting that the pilot would have pull up quickly to get airborne before the end of the runway. Aviation experts said that it appeared that the jet had enough speed to get airborne but was heavily damaged by the impact with the trees. The CRJ-100 jet appears to have been within 20 to 30 feet of clearing the trees and flying to safety. The 3-foot-long tip of the left wing, along with other pieces of the jet, were visible in the trees. There have been some indications that some of the taxiways were closed. The taxi route for commercial jets at Blue Grass Airport was altered a week before the accident. So perhaps, when the crew was taxiing out, it was dark and it was raining, perhaps they got a bit confused. The plane was doomed at the beginning of the take-off course. The crew could have rejected the take-off, but before they realized they were probably in trouble, they had probably eaten up 90 per cent of the runway. Moreover, the runway was wet: they would have needed even more distance to stop. In the tower, only one traffic controller was on duty, a violation of Federal Aviation Administration policy. He had cleared the jet for takeoff but then turned away to perform "administrative duties" as the plane went down the wrong runway.

The plane, which had been scheduled to fly from Baotou to China's eastern metropolis of Shanghai, crashed into a frozen lake in Baotou's Nanhai Park just after take-off. Witnesses said the plane plummeted from the sky with thick black smoke coming from its tail section. The plane seemed to stall for a few seconds and dropped to the lake with an explosion. It has probably suffered a sort of technical failure.

The plane was on a scheduled passenger flight (Flight 5672) from Nantes (France) to Brest (France). It crashed short of runway while attempting to land at Brest airport. During the approach the airplane deviated to the left of the centerline due to gradually shifting winds. At first the aircraft was above the glideslope, but then descended below the glideslope. As they further descended below the glideslope (25 seconds before impact), the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) began to sound. Engine power was added, but it was too late. The plane impacted power lines and a roadway, before coming to rest 150m further on, at a distance of 2150m from the runway threshold and 450m to the left of the extended centerline. Then it caught fire. The Captain sustained fatal injuries. The first officer and two passengers were seriously injured. Weather at the time of the accident was poor, with a reported ceiling of 200 feet, and surface visibility measured at 800 meters.