Plane landed too fast, report finds
Air France Crash; S kidded off runway near Highway 401
CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, December 05, 2007
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An Air France plane that crashed at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport in 2005 came in too fast and landed almost halfway down the runway, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said yesterday.
The board will release its final investigation report into the crash in Toronto next Wednesday.
"The aircraft approached Toronto in a severe and rapidly changing thunderstorm with shifting winds and limited visibility.
"It came in too high and too fast and touched down almost halfway down the 9,000-foot runway," the board said in a statement released yesterday.
"A combination of a wet and slippery runway and crosswinds meant the aircraft simply ran out of room."
The plane crashed on Aug. 2, 2005 with 297 passengers and 12 crew members on board. All survived after the plane skidded off the end of the runway and into a ravine near Highway 401.
One official said it was "a miracle" there were no deaths. Nine passengers and two crew members suffered serious injuries.
An interim report, released by the Transportation Safety Board in November, 2005, found no mechanical defects on the Airbus 340.
Information gathered by investigators in the interim report found the plane had almost no chance of stopping amid a sudden gust of wind and a line of fierce squalls that struck it just above a rain-slicked runway in the last few minutes before landing.
As the massive jet came in -- higher and faster than usual, the interim report said -- it was hit by sheets of rain, which significantly reduced the crew's forward visibility.
And, according to the digital flight recorder, at almost exactly the same time, the wind shifted, "causing a tailwind component of approximately five knots."
Meanwhile, the storm had left the runway "contaminated with at least ¼ inch of standing water."
The interim report also found the Air France jet landed about halfway down the runway.
Shortly after the crash, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, the chief executive of Air France, reportedly blamed airport authorities for allowing the plane to land in bad weather.
The interim report indicates air traffic controllers were aware of traction problems on the runway used by Air France Flight 358 and informed the pilot.
At least 107 passengers have joined a class-action suit against Air France, Toronto airport authorities, the control tower staff, Airbus, Goodrich, which built the jet's escape chutes, and the two pilots, seeking damages of more than $150-million.
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