Bombardier-built plane crash-lands in Denmark

A Scandinavian Airlines turboprop carrying 44 people made a crash landing in Denmark on Saturday, sliding down the runway on its belly after part of the landing gear on the Canadian-made plane collapsed.

No one was seriously injured in the accident, the third crash landing involving the airline's Bombardier-built Q400 turboprops in less than two months.

Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, grounded its turboprops after Saturday's accident at the Copenhagen Airport "until further notice," the company said in a statement.

The aircraft were grounded for three weeks after the first two accidents in September, but resumed flights earlier this month.

"Any incident of this sort is regrettable," Bombardier spokesman Bert Cruickshank said Saturday from Toronto.

"We're of course thankful that there were no injuries associated with this particular incident."

The Montreal-based manufacturer has already deployed safety and technical teams to assist in an investigation by Scandinavian inspectors, Cruickshank said.

"We cannot speculate as to the cause of an incident until such time as the aviation authorities have issued their findings," he said. "It's aviation protocol."

Landing gear for the 70-seat Q400 is built by North Carolina-based Goodrich Inc., and installed by Bombardier.

Cruickshank said there are about 150 of these aircraft in operation around the world.

"They have, statistically, a very good safety record," he said of the Q400. "They continue to be regarded very highly by their operators because we are getting the reorders for them."

On Saturday, the Q400 turboprop, carrying 40 passengers and four crew members, was en route to Copenhagen from Bergen, Norway, when authorities received a distress call.

SAS said "problems with the main landing gear" had been reported by the crew prior to the accident. It did not disclose further details on the cause of the accident.

TV footage on the website of Danish broadcaster TV2 showed how the landing gear folded beneath the plane as it hit the runway, forcing the plane onto its belly while its weight tipped over onto the right wing in a shower of sparks.

Copenhagen Airport closed off one of its two main runways because of the accident, resulting in flight delays.

On Sept. 9, one of SAS's Q400 aircraft caught fire after making an emergency landing at Aalborg's airport in Denmark.

Three days later, another aircraft of the same type skidded off a runway at Vilnius airport in Lithuania and smashed one wing into the ground, also during an emergency landing.

No one was seriously injured in the accidents, but both planes had landing gear problems and led to SAS grounding its entire fleet of 27 Bombardier-manufactured turboprops for three weeks for inspections and repairs. Flights with the aircraft were resumed in early October.

SAS has said it will ask for the equivalent of $75 million in compensation from Bombardier for costs and lost income for accidents involving the turboprops, which are also known as Dash 8-400s.

Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, is the joint flag carrier of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.