The pilots of the de Havilland DHC-8 failed to recognize, before their bounced landing, that substantial variations in the airplane’s power settings had created an unstable approach; the landing damaged the airplane’s lower fuselage.
The 31 passengers and crew were uninjured in the Oct. 19, 2022, occurrence at Sandy Lake Airport in northern Ontario, Canada, according to the final report on the event by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
The TSB said the event’s causes and contributing factors included wide variations in the power setting — ranging between 57 percent and flight idle — after the airplane descended below 500 ft above ground level (AGL). According to the report, the power setting changes, which were likely a result of the first officer’s (FO’s; the pilot flying) limited experience in the aircraft type, resulted in the unstable approach.
In addition, the TSB cited “insufficient detail in the standard operating procedure…
