"TORONTO, Aug 7 (AFP) - The Air France Airbus jet which crash landed at Toronto's airport touched down too far along the rain-soaked runway to stop in time before overshooting and bursting into flames in a ravine, a senior investigator said Sunday.
"I am pretty convinced that there was no way that the aircraft was going to be able to stop before the end with the runway condition that we had, the water on the runway, and the braking action which was poor," Canadian Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Real Levasseur told reporters Sunday.
"My preliminary estimate is that there was no way this airplane could have stopped before the end" of the runway, he stressed.
Levasseur is leading the probe into Tuesday's crash landing of the Air France jet during a violent thunder storm.
All 12 crew and the flight's 297 passengers survived the near disaster.
The plane touched down about 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) along the runway -- close to midway -- leaving the co-pilot, who was in control of the jet, only 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) to bring the jet to a halt, Levasseur said.
Under normal conditions, this type of aircraft could have stopped in time, he said.
It was traveling "fairly close" to the correct landing speed -- at 148 knots instead of the typical 140 knots -- pushed along by a slight tailwind, he said.
But, because the runway was slick due to rain, the brakes were less effective and it took longer to decelerate, Levasseur said. Investigators will conduct simulations to confirm this, he added.
By the time it reached the end of the runway, the plane had only slowed to 79 knots before skidding off into a ravine.
Levasseur said investigators must now determine why the aircraft overshot the runway during landing."
Seems my poor laymen´s comments and unprofessional and/or unfounded, merely speculative
post 5 days ago wasn't that far from the truth...
