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.
A Boeing 737-800 @WestJet (C-GWSR) suffered a right-hand main landing gear collapse, with the engine nacelle contacting the runway, after landing in St. Maarten (SXM), flight WS2276 from Toronto. Passengers evacuated via slides. Video: Daniel Jef. @flightradar24 @AviationSafety pic.twitter.com/AqWKvvkVaO
— Aeronews (@AeronewsGlobal) September 7, 2025
Aviation watchdog JonNYC points to air traffic control audio discussing evacuation from the aircraft.
ATC audio from WestJet WS2276 today. Listen to tower coordinate with Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) about evacuating the aircraft on the runway.
Audio via @liveatc https://t.co/jkYyHMcZqr pic.twitter.com/IL7D92YV1r
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 8, 2025
The plane was immobilized, but evacuation isn’t without risks. Indeed, three people were taken for medical evaluation.
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.
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…
Glad everyone is ok. yikes.
Bang, Ding, Ow. Sum Ting Wong.
“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.
@Ken A — Captain Wi Tu Lo.
Thank you Gary for providing great links to more details on this incident.
Thanks, Gary ! I’m agreed that the landing may have been on the firm side, but definitely not hard. It also seemed to be a bit long given the short runway, but maybe that’s intentional to protect people on the beach. It would not be surprising to see a result similar to Alaskan Airlines Flight AS1288 around 2 years ago (also gear collapse on a B737-800), which turned out to be metal fatigue after maintenance to the landing gear. For sure the NTSB Report should confirm what happened !