What happens when you land with flaps up on an airplane?

An Amazon cargo plane went off runway at Vancouver Airport early Tuesday at 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 19 this year when the aircraft overran the eastern boundary of Vancouver Airport’s north runway.

The crash happened at 1:45 a.m. when the landing aircraft overran the eastern end of the airport’s northern runway, known as runway 8L. The Cargojet flight was operating a Prime Air Boeing 767 freighter aircraft.

According to recordings at the LiveATC website, the flight declared an emergency before landing, reporting it would have to land at a higher speed than normal due to a problem with its leading-edge slats.

Flaps and slats create additional lift, allowing planes to safely slow down. Larger planes, like the Boeing 767, have large flaps on the back of the wings and small “leading-edge slats” on the front.

The first sign of trouble came shortly after the plane was cleared to descend to 3,000 feet as it headed out across the Strait of Georgia for a planned turn to approach the airport from over the water.

“We have a flight control problem, we need to run a checklist,” the pilot handling radio traffic calmly told the Vancouver approach controller,.The plane was given directions to fly over the strait for another five minutes before the controller asked if fire trucks should be alerted.

“Pan-Pan. We have a leading-edge slat asymmetry,” the pilot responded. Asymmetry means that the leading edge slats were not extending to the same angle on both sides of the aircraft. “We can bring out the fire trucks as a precaution.”

Over on the Vancouver tower frequency, the tower controller could be heard talking to the emergency vehicles. “They are going to be coming in fast,” the controller reported.

The plane landed at a speed of about 175 knots, at least 30 knots faster than usual.

Then, after the plane lands, the controller tells the fire trucks: “The aircraft has vacated the runway at the far end.”

Then to the pilots: “All the red vehicles (the call sign for YVR fire trucks) are coming onto the runway.”

Then a fire truck operator confirms: “They’re off the end of the runway. We’re trying to make access right now.”

According Flightradar24, a global flight tracking database, the flight path showed the plane continuing past the end of the north runway for about 570 metres before coming to a stop. Early reports said its nose gear collapsed, but later reports indicated it had completely sunk into the soft, rainwater-soaked soil off the end of the runway.

“There were no injuries reported and the Cargojet crew of three were safely deplaned,” the airport spokesperson said.

The plane remains in the grass off the runway nose down, with its engines touching the ground and its wings mud-splattered.

A week later, on 27 November 2024, Nolinor Aviation 662, a Boeing 737-408, C-GGWX, suffered a left-hand main gear collapse during a flapless landing on runway 24 at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport (YMX/CYMX), Quebec, Canada. There were no injuries.