Air France Plane Crashes in Toronto

Ron Thorne · August-2nd-2005, 05:06 PM

An Air France flight from Paris to Toronto has overrun the runway at Pearson International Airport and burst into flames. There are thought to be about 200 passengers and crew onboard. The aircraft is an Airbus 340.

Weather conditions were very poor, including reports of a large thunderstrorm at the time of the incident. Flames and billowing smoke were visible while watching the coverage on CNN.

Ron Thorne · August-2nd-2005, 05:09 PM

Passenger Jet Crashes In Toronto

August 2, 2005

By KOMO Staff & News Services

TORONTO - An Air France passenger jetliner caught fire Tuesday after skidding off a runway in a fierce thunderstorm at Pearson airport in Toronto. Black smoke billowed from the wreckage as the aircraft burned. A row of emergency vehicles lined up behind the wreck, and a fire truck sprayed the flames with water.

ABC News reported the plane was an Airbus A340 flown as Air France Flight 358 from Paris to Toronto.

The flaming ruin was next to the four-lane Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and some cars and trucks stopped on the roadway after the crash.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Police said the plane was trying to land when it ran into trouble. There was a storm - with lightning, strong wind gusts and even hail - in the area at the time.

Police Sgt. Glyn Griffiths said it was not know if any passengers had been taken from the plane.

Leah Walker, a radio reporter in Toronto, said she saw a third of the plane fall and that the rest became a fireball. "This plane attempted to land in some very fierce weather we had today," she said.

The last major jumbo jet crash in North America was on Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 lost part of its tail and plummeted into a New York City neighborhood, killing 265 people. Safety investigators concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot moving the rudder too aggressively.

August-2nd-2005, 05:12 PM

Good god.

Terrible news.

Ron Thorne · August-2nd-2005, 06:01 PM

Some amazingly good news is beginning to emerge from what could have been a tremendous tragedy with lots of loss of life. Eyewitnesses are reporting that they believe everyone on-board this flight was able to escape, though some appeared to be seriously injured. The pilot was reportedly taken to a nearby hospital.

CNN has already interviewed two passengers and several eyewitnesses. According to a passenger who was interviewed, the plane was full, which could mean a total of 305 persons, including the flight crew. This passenger was the 2nd person off the plane, sliding down an escape chute and running for his life while the plane and nearby area erupted in flames.

EDIT:

We just watched a news conference in which it was announced that there were 297 passengers and 12 crew members onboard this flight, no fatalities, and unconfirmed reports of 14 minor injuries. A truly remarkable outcome, based on all accounts.

jesus marion joseph · August-2nd-2005, 06:07 PM

CNN is reporting 14 minor injuries. I hope they're correct.

Monte Smith · August-2nd-2005, 06:12 PM

Glad to hear there are no deaths, evidently, and mostly minor injuries.

Slid off the runway, huh. You say it was an Airbus? Figgers. Out Seattle way we have a saying: "If ain't Boeing, I ain't going."

August-2nd-2005, 06:18 PM

Great news!

309 VERY lucky people.

patricia · August-2nd-2005, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

Glad to hear there are no deaths, evidently, and mostly minor injuries.

Slid off the runway, huh. You say it was an Airbus? Figgers. Out Seattle way we have a saying: "If ain't Boeing, I ain't going."

So, are you saying that Boeing has had no fatalities?? That is amazing!!!

But, no fatalities in this flaming mess is a miracle.

claude · August-3rd-2005, 08:41 AM

I saw the news bulletin when this first happened and my heart sank for the people on board, it didn't look good. I turned on the news later and was ready for the bad news when Peter Mansbridge started with "all 309 on board", I was pleasantly surprised when he followed that with "survived".

I guess there is good news every now and then.

patricia · August-3rd-2005, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by claude

I saw the news bulletin when this first happened and my heart sank for the people on board, it didn't look good. I turned on the news later and was ready for the bad news when Peter Mansbridge started with "all 309 on board", I was pleasantly surprised when he followed that with "survived".

I guess there is good news every now and then.

Exactly how I felt. In fact, at first there were people who were coming into the office and saying that everybody had died. I guess they assumed that because there was a fire, they had just filled in the blanks on their own. Thank goodness they didn't know what they were talking about. Whew.

Valerie · August-3rd-2005, 12:45 PM

A very major miracle!!! Thanking all the powers that be!