What happened
During the takeoff roll from runway 11 at St. John's, the flight crew experienced a sudden and significant increase in the aircraft's pitch attitude. As the aircraft type climbed to an altitude between 150 and 200 feet, the nose rose sharply. Just as the aircraft was approaching a layer of cloud cover, the crew responded by reducing engine power and manually lowering the nose to regain control.
Due to the loss of altitude and momentum, the crew was forced to perform an emergency landing back on the runway. The impact of the forced landing resulted in substantial structural damage to the fuselage, engines, wings, and main landing gear. There were 0 fatalities reported in the incident.
At the time of the event, meteorological conditions were poor, characterized by light rain and fog. Winds were recorded at 090 degrees at 25 knots, with gusts reaching 35 knots. Horizontal visibility was limited to 0.5 statute miles, and vertical visibility was only 100 feet.