Terrified passenger films moment wheel falls from plane

It's a sight you don't want to see from your window seat.

Video taken by a passenger on a flight from Montreal appears to show the one of the wheels of his plane spark, burn and then detach from the plane.

The incident happened on an Air Canada Jazz flight AC8684, as it took off for Saguenay Quebec.

Passengers aboard the De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 propeller plane watched on in horror as the wheel detached and fell away from the plane.

One passenger who was calm enough to film the event, later posted the footage to Twitter with the caption: "Well, now I'm on an aeroplane that just lost a wheel … 2020 starts pretty well."

VIDEO Air Canada Jazz #AC8684 to Saguenay lost their inside left main landing gear wheel as it departed Montreal yesterday. Sparks were seen prior to separation. The flight returned safely to Montreal. pic.twitter.com/9T7mgNnUup

— Tom Podolec Aviation (@TomPodolec) January 4, 2020

According to CBC the flight was carrying 49 passengers and three crew at the time.

In the video onlookers can be overheard repeating "It's fallen! It's fallen!"

However the Francophone passengers remained remarkably calm, though this may just be due to them being dumbfounded by the spectacular mechanical fault.

The plane was forced to return immediately to the airport following the issue. In spite of the damage to the landing gear the pilots were able to land back at the Montreal airport.
Footage later emerged of the plane landing safely on the remaining wheel.

In a statement a spokesperson for Jazz Aviation LP, which operates domestic flights for Air Canada, said: "During takeoff from Montreal en route to Bagotville, one of the two wheels on the left main landing gear became detached. The Dash 8-300 aircraft is equipped with six tires – two on the right landing gear, two on the left, and two on the nose wheel landing gear. The experienced pilots maintained complete control of the aircraft. Our pilots are well trained to deal with such situations and responded according to our standard operating procedures. After burning some fuel, the aircraft returned to Montreal and landed safely. There were no injuries. Emergency vehicles were called as a precautionary measure — the safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority."

"Our maintenance personnel in Montreal are conducting a thorough inspection of the aircraft to determine the cause and proceed with the necessary repairs."