Emergency personnel responded to the Regina Airport Saturday as an Air Canada Rouge flight made an emergency landing due to a flap indication. 

Speaking about aviation in general, Estevan Airport Manager Richard Reetz said in an interview with CJ 1150's Big Breakfast Show Host Lyle McGillivray that a flap indicator light means some sort of an issue arose with the flap system.

Reetz said they might not be retracting, or coming out.

"What flaps are used for are to slow the aircraft and to steepen the approach, so the approach to landing phase of the flight. And so they're also used to increase climb if you're on the takeoff phase of the flight. So they're used for many different purposes. But in the landing phase it'd be to slow the aircraft and to steepen the approach. So in a situation that the flaps were malfunctioning, if they weren't coming out, it would probably cause the aircraft to approach at a higher landing speed."

Reetz said if a situation were to play out in Estevan, the pilot would be looking at how much landing distance is available.

"We have 5,000 feet on our longest runway, and so the pilot would be doing those calculations and saying 'if I have to approach the airport at a slightly higher speed, is there room available? And that's where you make the decision in that situation of either using the airport as planned or going to an airport that has a longer runway. They'd be doing those calculations, and once that was figured out, they'd do the safest option possible."

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