'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!': Details emerge in Boeing 737 incident at Montreal airport

New details suggest that there were communication issues between the pilots of a charter flight and the control tower at Montreal's Mirabel airport when a Boeing 737 made an emergency landing on Wednesday.

The over-the-air broadcasts reviewed by Noovo Info reveal that the control tower wasn't aware that the plane had experienced a mechanical issue before approaching the runway.

The issue was detected after Flight NRL 662, operated by Nolinor, took off from Quebec City's Jean Lesage Airport Wednesday morning en route to Wabush airport in Newfoundland and Labrador, with a stop at Saguenay-Bagotville Airport.

A Boeing 737 has its front wheels up in the air after an emergency landing at Montreal's Mirabel airport on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (Courtesy/Noovo Info)

However, a technical issue prevented the Boeing 737-400, carrying 87 passengers and seven crew members, from landing in Saguenay.

The crew then declared an in-flight emergency, known as "Pan-Pan," before the plane was diverted to Mirabel. Pan-Pan, a standard message in the aviation industry, is the less urgent equivalent of Mayday to signal a non-life-threatening emergency.

The Mirabel control tower was allegedly not informed of the signal.

"Affirmative. We had this from the start on the approach to Bagotville," replied one of the pilots when asked about the emergency broadcast. "I'm really curious that the transfer from Montreal wasn't included in the message on Pan! Pan!" he added.

A passenger goes down an evacuation slide on a Boeing 737 plane after an emergency landing at Montreal's Mirabel airport on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (Olivia-Akeelah Michel/Facebook)

Typically, when the urgent call is made, emergency vehicles position themselves close to the runway and wait for the aircraft in trouble, however, none of that was done, Noovo Info reported.

The controller asked the Nolinor pilots if they wanted the firetrucks to respond, but they refused because they believed they were only dealing with a flap problem.

Then, a few moments later, the plane touched down but the left landing gear malfunctioned, causing the plane to be off-balance upon landing at high speed.

Video footage obtained by Noovo Info shows sparks and smoke from the engine scraping the runway. The force of the landing caused the oxygen masks to be deployed.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Nolinor 662," one of the pilots shouted.

The controller then replies, "We're rolling the [emergency] vehicles."

A panel above the overhead storage bin appears to be damaged on a Boeing 737 plane during an emergency landing at Montreal's Mirabel airport on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (Noovo Info)

The pilot asks if there is smoke visible. The controller replies, "there was no flame" and the "smoke was dissipating."

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Nolinor said all passengers and crew members were evacuated safely from the aircraft with no reported injuries.

Plane sustained 'significant damage,' TSB says 

The federal Transportation Safety Board (TSB), which deployed a team to the airport on Wednesday and is still investigating, confirmed to CTV News Thursday evening that the aircraft experienced a flap problem on approach to Bagotville airport and the pilots declared an emergency.

"During deceleration after landing with the flaps retracted at Montreal-Mirabel airport, the left main landing gear collapsed until the left engine touched the ground. The aircraft continued on its engine-supported path until it came to a complete stop on the runway," the TSB's summary of the incident stated.

The agency said there was no fire but the plane sustained "significant damage."

A Boeing 737 on the runway after an emergency landing at Montreal's Mirabel airport on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (Courtesy/Noovo Info)

In a statement on its website, Nolinor said the passengers involved were put on another flight Wednesday night that departed from Montreal-Trudeau Airport.

"Our team continues to fully cooperate with the TSB to determine the exact causes of the incident," the airline said in the statement. "At this time, the precise cause has not yet been established, and any information circulating at present is purely speculative."