UPDATED REPORT:
Both the BBC & ATI (Source of this article) are reporting the same thing so it seems possibly my concerns and fears may possibly be vidicated after all??
Early days yet!
Yes my congrates to the crew on getting everyone off safely however I hope the flight crew have updated their CV's to not including airline pilot!
ATI's Breaking Industry News Article
Crashed Air France A340 touched down halfway along runway (London)
Air Transport Intelligence news
David Kaminski-Morrow
Sun, 07 Aug 05 21:19:30 GMT
Initial flight-data recorder information has revealed that the Air France Airbus A340-300 destroyed last week after an overrun at Toronto Pearson airport had touched down nearly halfway along the runway.
Canada's Transportation Safety Board says that preliminary information indicates that the A340 landed some 4,000ft (1,220m) from the threshold of the 9,500ft runway 24L.
Chief investigator Real Levasseur, speaking today at a press conference, said given the wet conditions during the landing it would have been virtually impossible to stop the aircraft in the short space available.
"We're talking about nearly halfway down the runway [before the jet touched down]," said Levasseur. "Under those [wet-weather] conditions I'm pretty convinced that there's no way that the aircraft was going to be able to stop before the end of the runway."
He adds that the aircraft had touched down at around 148kts, slightly above the normal landing speed, probably owing to a slight tail-wind. The latest information showed the aircraft was travelling at 79kts when it left the runway.
"The pilots were fairly close to the speed that they should have been [at touchdown]," says Levasseur.
All 309 passengers and crew escaped the 2 August accident which occurred after the aircraft, arriving from Paris as flight 358, attempted to land during a thunderstorm.
After the aircraft came to rest in a ravine at the end of runway 24L, only four of the eight exit doors were used for the evacuation.
Levasseur says that the two left side aft doors - L3 and L4 - were never opened because cabin crew members considered the fire risk at these exits was too high.
"Flight attendants never opened [doors L3 and L4]," says Levasseur. "When they looked outside they saw fire on that side of the aircraft."
Door R3, behind the wing on the right side, was opened but the evacuation slide failed to deploy properly. A flight attendant also noticed a number of "sharp obstacles", says Levasseur, and opted to close the door again rather than use it for evacuation.
A fourth door - L2, just in front of the wing on the left side - popped open as the aircraft's fuselage suffered stresses during the overrun into the ravine. Some passengers left the aircraft through this exit.
