Boeing 737 Gear Collapses In Sint Maarten—Plane Skids In Sparks, Passengers Flee On Slides

On Sunday, September 7 WestJet flight 2276 from Toronto to Sint Maarten landed and the right main landing gear collapsed. There were 164 people on board the Boeing 737-800.

The plane skidded on its nose gear, left main gear, and the right engine nacelle, which sparked and produced smoke. Emergency services deployed fire-retardant foam. Everyone evacuated via slides. The runway was closed, causing flight disruptions, as authorities dispatched heavy equipment to remove the disabled aircraft.

According to the airline,

WestJet flight 2276, operating from Toronto, experienced a hard landing upon arrival at Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) at 17:29 UTC today.

Aviation watchdog JonNYC points to air traffic control audio discussing evacuation from the aircraft.

The plane was immobilized, but evacuation isn’t without risks. Indeed, three people were taken for medical evaluation.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. These planes are dangerous and yet they continue. It’s a matter of time when they start falling from the sky. Corporate only cares about profit before safety and your Life. They get away with this.

  2. Accidents happen. Glad everyone is ‘alright,’ here, relatively speaking. This incident would be traumatic at worst and disruptive at best.

    This is why we really should be focused during landings, like, not distracted, earbuds off, etc., because you may need to ‘get out’ quickly. Cheers to the entire crew for their efforts to keep folks safe during an evacuation.

    (Of course, those on the next flight are probably gonna be… ‘delayed’ to say the least. And although it’s a Dutch territory, EU261 doesn’t apply, but Canada’s APPR may, in terms of compensation for the delay.)

    I’ve been through St. Maarten (SXM airport) many times over the years, and have also enjoyed the plane spotting at Maho Beach. Nice bar nearby where you can sip and watch. (Bring your camera!) For av geeks, it’s ‘fun’ to watch the planes fly so close to the beach/road there, but, obviously it’s not without risk, and some have been hurt by those jet blasts in the past.

    The airport there has undergone a complete renovation since hurricane Irma destroyed it in 2017; there used to be temporary facilities for so many years, and now it’s far better, seamless connections (Winair, etc.) to SBH, AXA, etc., and there’s one lounge (though, access is ‘paid,’ not Priority Pass, etc.)

    @Lamont — I’m always down to complain about ‘profits over people’ but I’m not sure that this situation is that…

  3. “The crew managed to keep the aircraft on the runway and brought it to a standstill on the runway on nose gear, left main gear and right engine case.”

    Nice to praise the entire crew but I know that the pilots, who make the big bucks, were the ones doing the work on getting the airplane to a standstill.

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