Probe reveals lack of snow response at Turku airport

The reputation of Finland as a country where the impact of snow flurries to air travel is minimal got hit on Tuesday in an incident safety report.

The Finnish Safety Investigation Authority concluded that the landing of a Bombardier CR900 on a slushy runway in Turku, western Finland in October 2017 could have to a major aviation accident. The crew of four and 88 passengers were not injured.

A Bombardier CR900 aircraft arriving from Stockholm rotated 196 degrees counterclockwise during the landing and came to a halt 160 meters from the runway. The City Jet crew transmitted Mayday when the aircraft was skidding on the runway.

The investigation found out that at the time of the incident the runway was covered by a slush over 10 mm deep. Winds were high and gusting. Thickness of the slush had been on the increase, but the information about the condition of the runway had not reached the aircraft nor had the runway been cleared.

The Safety Investigation Authority recommends that the Finnish aviation authority reviews its runway maintenance and response procedures. Turku airport also needs a better way to alert emergency services.

The report includes suggestions to Transport Canada to improve information that Bomardier gives to operators. The Finnish authority recommends that the Irish aircraft authority oversees the methods used by City Jet for performance calculations under difficult conditions.

Turku airport is a regional airport, but has international scheduled and charter flights.