VeryMerging.com - Vol NA3365

This story is partly based on an accident which occurred in Canada in 1989 with the Air Ontario Flight 1363 leaving Dryden on March 10, 1989. "Flight NA 3365 to Morkousk" is a fiction inspired by this event, but is largely different from what really happened. The story was elaborated for pedagogical purposes to better underline some issues related to the merger of the two airline companies.

About the true event
When the plane took off that day, its wings were covered with white ice which hampered the performance of the airplane. The runway was also covered with wet snow which reduced its ability to accelerate. After lengthy taxing, the plane took off slightly then touched down again. It took off again 100m from the end of the runway without gaining altitude, then glided about 5m from the ground. One kilometer further, the airplane hit trees, crashed in the woods and burst in flames. Twenty-four people, including the pilots, died in this tragic accident.
After a three-year investigation, the inquiry commission concluded that multiple and diverse causes led to the crash, underlining the scope of organizational and human factors. The commission stated that many actors had played a part in the events that led to the accident, but that the organizational failures (at the company level, and the national supervisory authority) had contributed to aggravating the situation.

For more information on Flight 1363 from Air Ontario, the reader can consult the following book:
Maurino, Daniel E., James Reason, Neil Johnston, and Rob Lee. (1995). Beyond Aviation Human Factors: Safety in High Technology Systems. Brookfield, VT: Avebury Aviation.