What happened
On the night of 31 January 2020, a De Havilland DHC-8-402, registered as C-FKWE, was operating flight WEN3107 from Vancouver International Airport to Terrace Airport, British Columbia. The flight was carrying 43 passengers and 4 crew members. During the landing roll on Runway 33, the aircraft drifted left from the cleared portion of the runway and struck a windrow of snow. This contact pulled the aircraft further to the left, causing the nose and right main landing gear to also strike the snow accumulation. The aircraft then traveled through an uncleared section of the runway, with the left main landing gear exiting the runway surface beyond the edge lights for about 400 feet before the plane returned to the pavement. During this excursion, the nose landing gear collapsed rearward. There were no injuries among the occupants. Following the stop, the crew summoned airport rescue and fire fighting services. The passengers were moved to the terminal via bus roughly 30 minutes after the incident. The aircraft sustained damage to the right propeller blades and the nose landing gear.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the aircraft's path during the landing roll and the runway conditions at the time of the incident. Investigators established that the accident occurred in darkness and that visibility was restricted by ongoing snowfall. The examination centered on the interaction between the aircraft's tires and the snow windrows present on the runway surface.