Passengers on a Sunwing Airlines flight in the province of Holguín suffered a great fright on the night of this Tuesday, August 29, after the plane they were traveling in skidded off the runway while trying to take off for Canada.
According to information shared online by several Facebook users, the incident was recorded at the ‘Frank País’ International Airport.
Shared images show that the plane ended up with the landing gear tires buried in the ground, this after the asphalt on the runway ran out.
The Boeing 737, which was transporting Canadian citizens back home, suffered the accident while the pilots positioned the aircraft on the final stretch of the runway, this in order to gain momentum and take off towards the northern country.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported, although operations at the Holguin airport had to be interrupted while heavy machinery teams took the aircraft off the runway.
“That is a safety zone that is after the head, and it is that soft so that the aircraft that land and are going to leave the runway, sink there and stop,” said a member of the group ‘Amantes de Cuban Aviation’, where several images of the incident were shared.
This is a rare incident, since the pilots have well-defined limits on airport runways, so it is unknown if it was a human error or a mechanical failure.
At the moment, neither the Cuban Company of Airports and Airport Services (ECASA) nor the ‘Frank País’ International Airport have issued an official statement.
The incident caused the airport to be temporarily closed, which caused a series of diversions and delays in several flights destined for the place.
Curiously, this is not the first time that a Sunwing Airlines plane has been involved in such a situation, since in April one of them made an emergency landing in Varadero, after taking off with apparent technical problems from Santa Clara. That plane was carrying 190 Canadian tourists, and was also due to arrive in Montreal.
The news media indicated that the problem had to do with the landing gear, since it did not contract after taking off.
The landing was made for safety reasons, because, although it is not impossible to fly with the landing gear down, this produces greater aerodynamic resistance, which could affect the control that the pilot exercises over the plane.
