Engine problems and reports of falling debris prompted a packed passenger jet to make an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Monday afternoon.
An Air Canada spokesperson said the Boeing 777 airplane with 318 passengers and 16 crew members on board left Toronto en route to Narita, Japan at 2:10 p.m. and experienced an engine shutdown shortly after.
Meanwhile, Peel Regional Police said they received calls when the plane took off, with witnesses reporting flames and smoke coming from the plane. Police also received calls reporting metal debris falling from the sky as the plane passed overhead.
The plane turned around to perform the emergency landing and arrived at Pearson airport shortly before 4 p.m., the Air Canada official said.
Passengers reported that the plane appeared to lose some power on its ascent, but that everyone remained calm as the plane circled the airport for its emergency landing.
"I was amazed that, looking around, when it powered down, no one seemed to bat an eye," said passenger Martin Holman, a professor of Japanese at the University of Missouri.
Paramedics from Peel region and Toronto were on alert for the landing, but no one was injured.
There were reports of property damage in the Mississauga area as debris fell, but there were no reports of injuries.
The debris fell in three or four areas west of the airport, Peel police said.
In a Petro Canada parking lot at Kennedy Road and Derry Road East, Sarabgit Sandhu was just pulling away from the pump with her husband when she heard a loud boom and saw that her front windshield was cracked.
Nearby, what appeared to be part of a plane engine smashed through the back window of the parked Nissan Altima belonging to Jonathan Bergan, police said.
"She (Sandhu) came in and asked whose car was in the back parking lot and it was mine," Bergan told CP24. "So I came out and took a look. There was a lot of damage."
Pieces of metal littered the ground in the parking lot.
Witnesses told CP24 that the metal was so hot when it fell that they couldn't touch it. It also smelled like fuel.
Air Canada officials arrived at the Petro Canada and said they suspected the metal was, indeed, part of the plane engine, but that has not yet been confirmed.
A passenger on the plane told CBS News that Air Canada has rebooked the passengers on a flight for Tuesday, delaying their travel by a day.
Police said they have concluded their investigation.
The Transportation Safety Board, Air Canada and the airport authority are all conducting their own investigations into the incident.
