WestJet plane bound from Kamloops to Calgary makes safe emergency landing in Kelowna

KELOWNA — A plane bound for Calgary made an emergency landing in Kelowna, B.C., on Thursday afternoon after one of its two engines stopped working.

The WestJet turboprop aircraft landed safely, and all passengers, around 80 or so, are being rebooked on different flights on Thursday night or Friday morning.

“Today, at approximately 3:40 p.m., a plane that departed Kamloops en route to Calgary had a mechanical issue in flight,” said Phillip Elchitz, senior manager of airport operations at YLW. “And that flight was diverted to the Kelowna airport.”

The airport’s emergency crews, along with the Kelowna Fire Department, went on standby for the plane’s arrival, with it landing safely at 4:30 p.m.

“The passengers were safely offloaded into the terminal building and the WestJet team was there to assist them in getting rebooked,” said Elchitz.

The plane was a Dash 8 Q400 model with twin propeller engines.

“One engine stopped working. We refer to that as an engine out,” said Elchitz. “That aircraft is designed to fly on one engine, and that’s exactly what it did.

“It continued on a stable flight and had a successful approach and landing in Kelowna.”