Plane Skids Off Runway in Toronto, Burns

[Maksutov]

An Airbus A340 attempted to land in bad weather.

Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew.

[Stardate]

I'm trying to log into Air France's US website for a press release, but it must be getting too many hits.

How sad!

[Cylinder]

It's being covered by all the cable news channels here in the US. At this point the casualties seem very minor.

[Eoanthropus Dawsoni]

The news reports are still a bit vague but it sounds like most got out. That is good.

[Manchurian Taikonaut]

Poor weather condition when Pilot had to land during a thunder storm, some flames being put out by Firemen

[Stardate]

Maksutov's link has been updated twice (that I've noticed).

AM 680 also said some passengers could be seen climbing from the plane and that emergency workers said most of 252 people on board were safe.

The report could not immediately be confirmed.

[Cylinder]

An airline spokesman is reporting 14 "minor" injuries.

[Eoanthropus Dawsoni]

An airline spokesman is reporting 14 "minor" injuries.

Someone from the Toronto Airport is also saying the same thing. Apparently the aircraft burned after the people got out.

[Parrothead]

Yup, reports that 297 passengers and 12 crew got off plane, no known fatalities. I first heard the news on the radio at around 4:20 - 4:30pm, while I was busy watching one heck of a thunderstorm. Seeing as I'm 20 - 30 min down the 401 from Pearson, I figure the t-storm I was watching is the same storm that was happening at Pearson at the time of the crash.

[Stardate]

A video image of the Air France passenger jet burning at Pearson airport in Toronto.

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 6:01 p.m. ET Aug. 2, 2005

How scary the experience must have been.

[Maksutov]

All of the 309 persons aboard survived, with between 22 to 43 suffering minor injuries, according to officials.

Thank you aircraft designers and manufacturers, flight crew, and emergency response personnel! Great job! =D>

[kucharek]

The people all seem to be okay.
From current eyewitness reports, two things are possible: At the moment of the landing, the plane was hit by lightning and power failed. Or, due to the weather (thunderstorm), the pilot wanted to get down as quickly as possible and overshot the runway. Maybe a combination of both.

Question: Was it heavy raining during the crash? If yes, maybe that held back the fire the short time neccessary to get all people out and away.

[Laguna]

The people all seem to be okay.
From current eyewitness reports, two things are possible: At the moment of the landing, the plane was hit by lightning and power failed. Or, due to the weather (thunderstorm), the pilot wanted to get down as quickly as possible and overshot the runway. Maybe a combination of both.

Question: Was it heavy raining during the crash? If yes, maybe that held back the fire the short time neccessary to get all people out and away.

There was heavy rain reported during landing.
Passengers reported, they saw a flash right when the plane touched the ground.
Some passengers said, the cabin crew had not its best day, directing passengers to exits without slides...

[TriangleMan]

Some passengers said, the cabin crew had not its best day, directing passengers to exits without slides...

I could see something like that happening. Yes the crew are trained to assist passengers in an emergency but how many times do they actually end up in a crashed plane and are able to help everyone get out?

[side note]This reminds me of another thing I always wondered about. The safety message at the start of the flight always mentions the life jackets etc., but has anyone figured out that if a plane lands on water it will actually float? :-k [/side note]

[John Kierein]

I worry about the new composite aircraft being more susceptible to lightning than a metal Faraday cage.

[Melusine]

Some passengers said, the cabin crew had not its best day, directing passengers to exits without slides...

I could see something like that happening. Yes the crew are trained to assist passengers in an emergency but how many times do they actually end up in a crashed plane and are able to help everyone get out?

[side note]This reminds me of another thing I always wondered about. The safety message at the start of the flight always mentions the life jackets etc., but has anyone figured out that if a plane lands on water it will actually float? :-k [/side note]

I always wonder about that too; the pictures in the emergency guides on the planes show that if water is up to the exit doors then one shouldn't open them. I figure that if you landed in a large body of water, forget it, but planes have ended up in rivers, as happened New York and Washington DC some years ago, where the plane is only partially in water. However, some people died from the freezing water. I can't see that if a plane hits deep water that it wouldn't be broken in some way that would cause it to sink rapidly. I've never heard of one (a sizeable plane) landing on open water like a seaplane.

[captain swoop]

There is video of an aircraft trying to ditch into the Sae off the African coast from a few years ago, can't remember which one. It wasn't pretty, I don'tthink it's going to float after a ditching dude.

[Laguna]

Some passengers said, the cabin crew had not its best day, directing passengers to exits without slides...

I could see something like that happening. Yes the crew are trained to assist passengers in an emergency but how many times do they actually end up in a crashed plane and are able to help everyone get out?

Other Passengers now tell it the other way. That the cabin crew has been very calm and professional. Seems to depend on the persons involved.

Regarding a plane floating on water, the problem is to get it down in one piece, or at least to keep a big piece together.
http://www.flugzeug-absturz.de/videos/video3.mov
125 of 175 Passengers dead!

I guess thats the video captain swoop mentioned.

[Maksutov]

[edit]

Regarding a plane floating on water, the problem is to get it down in one piece, or at least to keep a big piece together.
http://www.flugzeug-absturz.de/videos/video3.mov
125 of 175 Passengers dead!

I guess thats the video captain swoop mentioned.

That's an Ethiopian Airlines 767-200ER ditching near Moroni, Comoros Islands on November 23, 1996. It was hijacked and was trying to land after having run out of fuel. Perhaps a controlled ditching would have been less disastrous. 127 of the people on board, including 10 of the crew, died. The three sub-animals that hijacked the airplane also had their pathetic lives terminated.

Here's a link re intentional ditchings. It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

[Stardate]

It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a great analogy! Wasn't there a plane incident in Utah where the plane crashed, but a good number of passengers survived? I believe the passengers knew that they were in for a bumpy landing. 8-[

[Stardate]

Air France's US website for a press release...

I finally got through!

Air France flight AF 358 - Press release - 1:00 am (french local time)
Air France flight AF 358, inbound to Toronto from Paris, had an accident while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport. The aircraft, an Airbus A340, carried 297 passengers and 12 crew members. Everyone on board the jet was able to get off the plane. There are no victims. 22 passengers suffering minor injuries are treated at area hospitals.

Air France is doing everything to give assistance to passengers who where on board flight AF 358.

Air France has established a passenger information centre, and a toll-free number is available for family and friends of those who may have been on board flight AF 358 The toll-free number is :
For those calling from France : 0 800 800 812
For those calling from outside : + 33 1 56 93 10 00

[Wally]

It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a great analogy! Wasn't there a plane incident in Utah where the plane crashed, but a good number of passengers survived? I believe the passengers knew that they were in for a bumpy landing. 8-[

IIRC, that jet lost its hydraulics, so didn't have any rudder/flaps/etc. They had to "learn" to steer what little they could by varying the engine thrusts. On landing, they did in fact cartwheel. Several were killed, but several did manage to make it out alive. Amazing video of the whole crash out there somewhere.

[Stardate]

It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a great analogy! Wasn't there a plane incident in Utah where the plane crashed, but a good number of passengers survived? I believe the passengers knew that they were in for a bumpy landing. 8-[

IIRC, that jet lost its hydraulics, so didn't have any rudder/flaps/etc. They had to "learn" to steer what little they could by varying the engine thrusts. On landing, they did in fact cartwheel. Several were killed, but several did manage to make it out alive. Amazing video of the whole crash out there somewhere.

The story should have been a movie. Wasn't there a retired pilot on the plane that assisted with manually bringing down the landing gear? If it wasn't for this guy, the whole lot would've surely parrished. I'd love to see the footage if anyone finds it.

[TriangleMan]

Here's a link re intentional ditchings. It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a good link, it appears that planes can float (at least for a few minutes). The examples given were generally pre-'75 but I'm sure more modern aircraft could float as well.

Execpt maybe those huge new aircraft like the new Airbus. 8-[

[Maksutov]

It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a great analogy! Wasn't there a plane incident in Utah where the plane crashed, but a good number of passengers survived? I believe the passengers knew that they were in for a bumpy landing. 8-[

IIRC, that jet lost its hydraulics, so didn't have any rudder/flaps/etc. They had to "learn" to steer what little they could by varying the engine thrusts. On landing, they did in fact cartwheel. Several were killed, but several did manage to make it out alive. Amazing video of the whole crash out there somewhere.

Perhaps you're thinking of the DC-10 that in 1989 lost hydraulics due to an engine #2 compressor fan disintegrating. It tried to land safely at Sioux City, Iowa, but at the last moment a wing touched down and caused the airplane to cartwheel.

The flight crew and the DC-10 expert who happened to be a passenger deserve a lot of credit for even getting it to the runway.

Here's the story.

Here's the video.

Bravo, Captain Haynes, as well as Copilot Records, Flight Engineer Dvorak, and Mr. Fitch!
=D>


[edit/typo]

[kucharek]

It would appear that when the plane is under control and the passengers have readied themselves, the odds are pretty good.

That's a great analogy! Wasn't there a plane incident in Utah where the plane crashed, but a good number of passengers survived? I believe the passengers knew that they were in for a bumpy landing. 8-[

IIRC, that jet lost its hydraulics, so didn't have any rudder/flaps/etc. They had to "learn" to steer what little they could by varying the engine thrusts. On landing, they did in fact cartwheel. Several were killed, but several did manage to make it out alive. Amazing video of the whole crash out there somewhere.

The story should have been a movie. Wasn't there a retired pilot on the plane that assisted with manually bringing down the landing gear? If it wasn't for this guy, the whole lot would've surely parrished. I'd love to see the footage if anyone finds it.

Wasn't this movie done after this? Or was it a different crash?

[Stardate]

What an incredible story, it brings tears to my eyes!

[Stardate]

Wasn't this movie done after this? Or was it a different crash?

Wow, I didn't know there was a movie already ~1988. I was partying then. ops:

CHARLTON HESTON - I missed so much in the 80's.

[Maksutov]

Wasn't this movie done after this? Or was it a different crash?

Wow, I didn't know there was a movie already ~1988. I was partying then. ops:

CHARLTON HESTON - I missed so much in the 80's.

That video looks familiar somehow.


One sometimes wonders why one bothers to post...


Lurking does have its benefits.


Wonder what Lurker's doing these days?


Funny how every time he mentioned his "Persian" I initially thought he was referring to a cat.


I hope that "cool cat" is doing all right and hopefully recovering from her illness.


Oh well...

[captain swoop]

Which was the Airbus that lost both engines in mid Atlantic and had to glide all the way to the Azores? Lost fule due to a leak or somesuch.

Only power was from a tiny little wind turbine. Apparently the glide lasted for nearly an hour and the pilot put it down slap onto the runway at a military base. No Flaps, no reverse thrust and no brakes.