Archive of Our Own

STATEMENT FROM THE OTTAWA CENTAURS

Our organization confirms that the team charter suffered an engine issue and safely made an emergency landing in Tampa this evening. All of the players, coaches and team staff are unharmed.

We would like to thank our travel partners at Air Canada for the skill and professionalism of the flight crew and cabin crew during this incident.

Please respect the privacy of our Centaurs players, staff and their families at this time.

L'organisation des Centaures d’Ottawa annonce que l'avion de l'équipe a effectué un atterrissage d'urgence à Tampa ce soir en toute sécurité. Tous les joueurs, entraîneurs et membres du personnel sont sains et saufs.

Nous tenons à remercier nos partenaires de voyage chez Air Canada pour le professionnalisme et la compétence de leur personnel.

Nous vous prions de respecter la vie privée des joueurs, du personnel et des familles des Centaurs en cette période difficile.

Steven Bouchard, General Manager/directeur général

Broussard, QC

11:49 AM, Jan 7th

[JJ Boizeau]: …called my boy Hayesy - Wyatt Hayes - to see how he’s doing, and he said to me that it’s so exceptional, it just happens every forty years or something. So I wasn’t nervous to fly home.

[feet moving]

[Oliver Miller, Montreal Gazette]: …a few words on the Centaurs’s plane accident?

[Shane Hollander]: Uh, obviously that was pretty scary to hear about. At times like these, we put aside the rivalry and competition of the game, because I think most of us here had someone on that plane we, uh -

[cough]

[Shane Hollander]: Yeah, sorry - most of us had someone we know and care about on there. Some things are bigger than hockey, right? I can speak for the whole team when I say I’m very thankful things turned out the way they did.

[Sylvie Gagnon, TVA]: Et la même question pour TVA, s’il t’plaît, Shane?

[Shane Hollander]: Ok, Sylvie. Euh, évidemment une situation très grave. Le hockey, c’est une famille, et on le constate en ce moment, bien sûr. En tout cas, tout le monde - on a été reconnaissant que d’apprendre que les Cens vont bien.

[Bruce Leclair, Sportsnet]: I’m sure we all feel the same about that. Getting back to hockey, Shane, any takeaways from the game in Washington?

[Shane Hollander]: Uh, okay. Yeah, that was a tough loss, for sure. At this time in the season, we're starting to think about our playoff position, and every point counts...

[Harsha Patel, TSN]: What’s the gameplan for taking on the Guardians, Hayden?

[Hayden Pike]: They’re going to take it to us with physicality, so we just gotta stick to our game and grind it out….

Terror at 30,000 feet: a flight the Ottawa Centaurs won't forget

by Luc Macdonald

TAMPA, FL - Typically, the Ottawa Centaurs fly over 30,000 miles in total during regular season road trips. The players have their routines; there’s the card game in the back of the plane (“Never play against Dykstra,” several players have warned), or the Nintendo Switches favoured by the younger players: Luca Haas, Emil Holmberg and Jacob Young. Others bring along laptops, tablets and e-readers. In the front, the coaches may gameplan or huddle over tape.

On Tuesday evening, their flight was anything but routine. The incident occurred at around 7 PM EST. The Centaurs had left Raleigh after a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Storm, and were looking forward to the Florida leg of the road trip, the Sunshine State a welcome change from a gray January in Ontario.

“One minute, everything was normal, then the next minute there was a huge bang and our plane f***ing fell out of the sky,” said veteran defenseman Nick Chouinard. “I looked out and there were flames shooting out of the wing. I think I yelled ‘The plane’s on fire!’ or something. There were some Hail Marys going up, for sure.”

Confusion and fear filled the cabin. Veterans and rookies alike were in uncharted territory.

“In the ‘Q’ [QMJHL] and last year in Belleville [Centaurs, of the AHL], we don’t even fly unless we’re going to Newfoundland or something,” said forward Gabriel LaPointe, in his first full season with the team. “I’ve seen that movie where Tom Hanks lands the plane in the river and that’s as much as I know about plane crashes. I kept looking over at Haaser and asking myself if this was really happening.”

“All that was in my head at that moment was Cassie and the baby,” said an openly emotional Zane Boodram, whose wife is pregnant with their first child. “I’d have given anything to be back home with her in my arms.”

The pilots declared an emergency and landed at Tampa International Airport..

“Our pilot did unbelievable,” said winger Troy Barrett. “He came over the intercom—you could tell he was trying to hold his voice steady—and said to prepare for an emergency landing. We were just hoping we were going to land and not crash. I could see guys praying, or on their phones trying to get through to their families. Then the landing was perfect. All the boys just cheered because we were so happy to be alive.”

Thankfully, the only casualty was the screen of Harris Drover’s laptop. “I had planned some fun content, something in the sun or on a beach,” said the team social media manager, who had joined the roadtrip. “But the best update I’ve ever made was to let everyone at home know we were ok.”

The team took advantage of a planned day off yesterday to rest and rally. “The league spoke to us about postponing the Tampa game,” said head coach Brandon Wiebe. “But the boys all wanted to play. Of course they want to play, they’re hockey players. We just took yesterday to take a breath and be together.”

“Everyone is supporting each other. We are ok. Or if not ok, we will be,” said captain Ilya Rozanov, uncharacteristically subdued. “We get to play hockey, and then we get to go home. [It] is a gift.”

Luc Macdonald is a senior reporter for The Athletic, covering the Ottawa Centaurs.

PRO ICE HOCKEY EMERGENCY LANDING IN TAMPA! Up now on the channel.

I didn’t know this was a job until this incident.

TRANSCRIPT

ACA7023: Jacksonville Center, Air Canada 7023. Requesting climb to flight level 320. Getting a bit bumpy here and we’d like to avoid that for the folks in the back.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, climb and maintain flight level 320.

ACA7023: Flight level 320, Air Canada 7023.

ZJX04: Speedbird 43 Charlie heavy, contact Orlando Approach on 127 point 75.

BAW43C: 127 decimal 75, Speedbird 43 Charlie heavy, good evening.

ACA7023: [unintelligible]

ZJX04: Say again, aircraft calling Jacksonville Center?

[Silences have been trimmed]

ACA7023: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, Air Canada 7023. We have lost number two, levelling off at flight level 310.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, acknowledge you are declaring an emergency at this time. When able, say intentions.

ACA7023: Stand by, Air Canada 7023.

ACA7023: Jacksonville, Air Canada 7023. We’re single engine. We’re still running some checklists but we’ll likely proceed to Tampa.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, single engine, roger. Ocala and Orlando are also available for you. When able, say souls on board and fuel remaining in pounds.

ACA7023: Fifty-seven souls, stand by for fuel, Air Canada 7023.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, roger.

ACA7023: Fuel is 17 thousand pounds, and we want to go to Tampa, Air Canada 7023.

ACA7023: And we’ll descend now.

ZJX04: 7023, can you maintain 13 thousand?

ACA7023: Affirm.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, descend and maintain 13 thousand.

ACA7023: 13 thousand, Air Canada 7023.

ZJX04: Air Canada 7023, contact Approach on 118 point 8.

ACA7023: 18 point 8, thanks for your help, Air Canada 7023.

TPA APPROACH: Delta 1020, expect delay vectors. I have an emergency aircraft inbound.

DAL1020: No problem, Delta 1020.

ACA7023: Tampa Approach, Air Canada 7023 emergency with you.

TPA APPROACH: Air Canada 7023, Approach. Does one niner right work for you?

ACA7023: One niner right works. And can you have them roll the trucks, Air Canada 7023.

TPA APPROACH: 7023, ARFF is alerted. We’ll have them meet you on the runway. Do you need a long final?

ACA7023: Affirm, that would be helpful, Air Canada 7023. Yeah, we’ll come to a stop and have them check, thanks.

TPA APPROACH: Air Canada 7023, cleared direct Tampa. Descend and maintain 3000, speed your discretion.

ACA7023: Direct Tampa, descend and maintain 3000, Air Canada 7023.

TPA APPROACH: Air Canada 7023, expect 19 right. Call us when you're ready to turn base.

TPA APPROACH: Delta 1020, turn right and fly heading 120, maintain your speed.

DAL1020: Right 120, maintain speed, Delta 1020.

ACA7023: Approach, Air Canada 7023, we’ll make the turn now.

TPA APPROACH: Ok, Air Canada 7023, make your turn southbound, that is left heading 190, cleared ILS approach one niner right.

ACA7023: Left turn, fly 190 for 19 right, 7023.

TPA APPROACH: And Tower is 119 point 5.

ACA7023: 119 point 5, see ya, Air Canada 7023.

TPA TWR: Attention all ARFF vehicles on frequency, the emergency aircraft is on final. Engine failure number two, fifty-seven souls.

TRUCK 2: [garbled]

TPA TWR: Truck 2, I don’t believe so.

ACA7023: Tampa Tower, hello, Air Canada 7023 for 19 right.

TPA TWR: Air Canada 7023, cleared to land 19 right, winds 170 at 15, gusting 23.

ACA7023: Cleared to land 19 right.

ACA7023: Stopping on the runway [garbled]

TRUCK 2: [garbled] niner right.

TPA TWR: Truck 2 and company, cleared to proceed onto 19 right. Air Canada 7023, you can talk to ARFF on this frequency.

TPA TWR: Runway 19 right is closed. Runway is closed.

TRUCK 2: [garbled]

ACA7023: [garbled] aren’t seeing any indications, but if you could take a look we’d appreciate it.

TRUCK 2: [garbled]

TRUCKS: [garbled]

ACA7023: Brakes are good.

TRUCKS: [garbled]

ACA7023: We don’t require medical. Cabin crew says everyone’s good in the back.

ACA7023: Apparently some of them are singing O Canada.

TRUCK 2: [garbled]

ACA7023: Tower, Air Canada 7023?

TPA TWR: Air Canada 7023, what do you need?

ACA7023: We’ve got no fire at this time and will be able to taxi under our own power. We’re just talking to company about a gate but we can get off the runway now.

TPA TWR: Can you exit via Whiskey 2?

ACA7023: We can, 7023.

TPA TWR: Contact Ground 121 point 7 and have a good evening.

ACA7023: Good evening, we appreciate it, Air Canada 7023.

AIR CANADA ACA7023 Emergency Landing TAMPA 5th January 2021

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, you’re watching the rojo-geranio channel, and today we’re going to discuss the Air Canada emergency landing at Tampa International which happened on Tuesday evening. Thanks to the folks on Patreon who make this content possible.

The incident aircraft was an AirBus A319, travelling from Raleigh-Durham to Tampa, operated by Air Canada Jetz, and I believe that has CFM56 engines. Now that’s Air Canada’s corporate charter operation, their customers are sports teams, bands on tour, where you have a lot of people and equipment. In this case it was the Ottawa Centaurs hockey team - let’s go Mission! Heh.

Understand that for a big corporate charter operated by a major carrier like this, you’re talking the same airframes, same type ratings, essentially the same procedures as a scheduled passenger flight operating under FAA Part 121. So you know, the track record - Air Canada’s safety record, that’s very good.

There’s been a lot of honestly misinformation going around on social media and I’ll call out some of the mainstream media as well. The passengers being public figures doesn’t excuse this. How often do we see people rushing to point a finger of blame at whoever and say that it's this or that human error? We gotta wait for the NTSB report as always. And that will be in conjunction with the TSB, that’s the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

I’m going to pull up FlightRadar here, so you can see the ASD-B track. They’re well into the flight over northern Florida, sorta abeam Gainesville here, when suddenly something goes KABLAMMO! From what the passengers were saying they get noise, vibration, sparks coming out of the back of the engine, so maybe some surging or engine stall.

“MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, Air Canada 7023. We have lost number two, levelling off at flight level 310.”

You can hear the full ATC recording over at BAZAviation thanks to friend of the channel, Basil, I’ll drop the link down below.

So they level off, they declare - aviate, navigate, communicate - they run the checklists and they determine the best course of action is to land at Tampa. I’ll run the rest of the playback here but there’s nothing all that interesting, they land safely and they can even use the plane again. Mostly. All in all a good day at the office, considering.

Here’s a photo of the aircraft from TampaSpotterzz on instagram, taken after the landing. You can see the ARFF vehicles off to the side here. Now this here is the number two engine. On a twin that’s on the starboard side. We see the cowling here around the inlet is intact. What we don’t see is any missing fan blade in the disc here. Let’s put to bed any speculation about there being a hole in the engine casing based on a single photo shown on TV - this picture from a different angle shows there’s no damage to the aluminum skin of the engine nacelle, let alone that reinforced containment ring that’s underneath here. That image shows a shadow, maybe a bit of soot, but in my opinion it’s just a shadow.

If you’re new to the channel, federal regulations specify these turbofan engines must be able to contain the debris if a fan blade snaps. That housing, that kevlar ring, holds the shrapnel in and allows it to be ejected out the back instead of it ejecting sideways at high velocity and striking the fuselage or the wing, or the empennage. We saw that with the Southwest flight a few years ago, we saw substantial damage to the cowl of the failed engine, and that debris penetrated the fuselage and unfortunately caused the fatality to the passenger and decompression of the cabin. In this case, we have a contained engine failure. The certification and engineering worked the way it’s supposed to.

We can rule a few things out here. Most engine failures happen on takeoff, in climb-out, the phase of the flight when you’re asking the engines for the most thrust. This was en route. It’s not a fan blade failure, we’ve seen the fully intact fan. You don’t get many birds above 30,000 feet, especially not in the USA so that’s not likely.

The investigators will go over this engine, the turbines, the compressors, fuel lines, everything, looking for the root cause. That could be a low-cycle fatigue crack, a manufacturing defect, a maintenance error. In advance of that, let’s not speculate. It spreads unnecessary fear among the public and it disrespects the professionalism of aircrews and ATC.

Contained failures, like this one, are rare. Uncontained failures are even rarer. We’re talking around four per year, worldwide.

We’ll update you here when the preliminary report is released. See ya here.