Rough landing at Winnipeg airport after tire trouble 'one of the scariest moments I've ever had on a plane'

Passengers on an Air Canada flight had a rough landing after a mechanical problem with the tires brought it to a sudden halt after touching down in Winnipeg Tuesday afternoon.

The plane was coming from Vancouver and landed at the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport shortly after 3 p.m.

"Out of all the plane travel that I have done, it was probably one of the scariest moments I've ever had on a plane," said United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest, who was among the passengers on the plane, as was Liberal MP Bill Blair.

No one on the plane was injured, and vehicles were sent out to bring people into the terminal, said Tyler MacAfee, spokesperson for the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

After it came to a stop, the captain told the passengers that wet snow and water in Vancouver got into the brake system and froze, causing all tires on the plane to burst upon landing, Forrest told CBC News.

He said he was watching the movie Die Hard, and at first thought the loud pops he heard were part of the movie.

"When you hear the pop and you feel plane shuddering, you don't know what's going to happen but as soon as that plane stopped, there was a huge sigh of relief from every single passenger."

The passengers waited on the plane for about half an hour until vehicles started shuttling people to the terminal, Forrest said. 

MacAfee couldn't say exactly what mechanical problem the plane experienced, but confirmed there was at least one flat tire. The incident isn't affecting other operations at the airport, and the other runway is fully operational, MacAfee said.