ignition
there was a link in my original post on the ALPA release if you want to read it. It was not yet on ALPA website, it went to Canada News Wire.
This additionally from Globe and Mail (snippet):
Some pilots, meanwhile, are expressing safety concerns about Pearson. The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at airlines around the world including Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz, said it has been long concerned about the valley about 200 metres past the end of the runway.
A coroner's jury recommended installing a causeway after a 1978 incident in which an Air Canada DC-9 aborted takeoff and ended up in the ravine, killing two passengers and injuring 105 others.
"They knew there was a problem and we have asked to have that fixed over the years and it has not been addressed," said ALPA spokesman John Mazor.
But Mr. Lavasseur dismissed suggestions that Pearson is unsafe because of the valley 200 metres from the end of the runway.
He said airplanes are designed to require a minimum runway length depending on their gross weight at takeoff and landing.
"I have no reason to believe that this runway doesn't meet criteria -- that Transport Canada would not leave that runway operating if it wasn't suitable and acceptable," Mr. Lavasseur said.
Other pilots are complaining that Pearson has no wind-shear detectors and that the runways are not grooved, which allows them to drain water faster after downpours.
But Kent Wilson, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said his union does not have particular safety concerns about Pearson.
He said the union supports any moves that will make the airport safer, but added that it is not realistic to expect that 1,000 feet of overrun at every airport.