Air France Flight 358

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Burning aircraft showing tail fin
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Burning aircraft showing tail fin
Aircraft remains about a day after the crash
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Aircraft remains about a day after the crash
Panoramic picture of the aftermath of Flight 358
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Panoramic picture of the aftermath of Flight 358

Air France Flight 358 is a scheduled passenger flight originating from Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) Terminal 2F in Paris, France, arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) Terminal 3 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is normally scheduled to leave CDG at 1:15 p.m. CEST (1115 UTC), and arrive at YYZ at 3:35 p.m. EDT (1935 UTC). This actual flight left at 11:53UTC from CDG airport, and touched down in Toronto at 20:01UTC.

On August 2, 2005, Flight 358 burst into flames after skidding off the end of runway 24L-06R by about 200 meters into a nearby shallow ravine after landing at Toronto Pearson at 4:03 p.m. EDT. The aircraft, an Airbus A340-313X had 309 people aboard (297 passengers and 12 crew), all of whom survived.

Subsequent flights to Toronto were diverted to other Canadian airports in Ottawa, London, Hamilton, Montreal, and Winnipeg [1], as well as Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York, USA [2]. Flights from Vancouver were turned back. Some 540 flights were cancelled. The crash occurred on the 20th anniversary of the crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 191 during landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.

For Toronto Pearson, the crash of Air France Flight 358 was the biggest crisis to hit the airport since the airport's involvement in Operation Yellow Ribbon.

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Contents

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Aircraft details

  • Airline: Air France
  • Aircraft type: Civilian, Passenger
  • Aircraft model: Airbus A340-313X
  • Registration Number of Aircraft: F-GLZQ (1999)
  • Model service: 14 years
  • Aircraft service: 6 years
  • Aircraft tail number: F-GLZQ
  • Passenger Seats: 295
  • Engine: 4 CFM56-5C4
  • Max. mach speed: 0.86
  • Range: 13 350km
  • Max. take off weight: 276000kg
  • Wing span: 60.3m
  • From: Charles De Gaulle (CDG), Paris, France
  • Destination: Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Narrative

The accident occurred on August 2, 2005 20:03 UTC (16:03 EDT). Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340-313X with 297 passengers and 12 crew, overshot the end of runway 24L at Toronto Pearson International Airport and came to rest in a small ravine 200 meters past the end of the runway. All passengers and crew evacuated successfully. There were 43 minor injuries and no fatalities. The aircraft was destroyed by a post-crash fire.

The flight landed during reports of strong winds, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms near the airport (see Weather, below), and touched down further along the runway than usual. Some passengers report that the plane was rocking from side to side before landing, possibly due to turbulence and gusting winds associated with the storm systems.

The plane was cleared to land at 20:00 UTC on Runway 24L, which at 9,000 feet (2,728 m) in length, was the shortest runway in Pearson Airport. After touchdown, the aircraft did not stop before the end of the runway, but continued for 200 meters until it slid into the Etobicoke Creek ravine, on the western edge of the airport near the interchange of Dixie Road and Highway 401, one of the busiest highways in the world. The fire began in the middle of the plane, blocking some of the emergency exits, but the crew managed to evacuate everyone within 90 seconds. The first officer was the last to leave the plane.

After the crash, some passengers, including those who were injured, scrambled up the ravine to Highway 401, which runs slightly parallel to the runway. Peel Regional Police located the co-pilot and several passengers along Highway 401, receiving assistance from motorists who were passing the airport when the crash occurred. Some motorists took injured people, including the pilot, directly to hospitals. The main fire burned for some 2 hours, ending just before 18:00 EDT. All fires were out by early afternoon 3 August 2005, and investigators were able to begin their work.

The accident snarled traffic throughout Toronto's highway system. Highway 401 is the main freeway through the Greater Toronto Area, and the crash occurred near the highway's widest point where 18 lanes of traffic travel between Highway 403, Highway 410 and Highway 427. The accident also caused the cancellation or diversion of hundreds of flights, with ripple effects throughout the North American air system. By the night, four of the five runway surfaces were back in service, but the flight (and passenger) backlog continued through the next day.

CBC diagram shows the airplane's location.

CTV diagram

Smoke from Air France Flight 358 billows over Ontario Highway 401.

This is the same ravine that Air Canada Flight 189 slid into in 1978, resulting in two deaths; the Air Canada DC-9 had been using the 24R-06L runway, so it had crashed north of the AF358 crash scene, deeper into the ravine. The runway the Air France plane landed on, 24L-06R, is an east-west runway with a length of 2.7 km (9,000 feet), so the plane did not land very far off the runway, as reported by CablePulse 24.

According to The Toronto Star, this is the first time an Airbus A340 series has been involved in a crash, ending its 14 year clean record. The plane entered service in 1999, and had its last maintenance check done in France on July 5, 2005. The plane made 3,711 flights, for a total of 28,418 flight hours.

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Weather

A METAR (weather observation) for the Pearson Airport was released almost exactly at the time of the accident. It stated that the weather at 20:04 UTC (16:04 EDT) consisted of winds from 340° true (north-northwest) at 24 knots (44 km/h) gusting to 33 knots (61 km/h), with 1 1/4 statute miles (2 km) visibility in heavy thunderstorm and rain. The ceiling was overcast at 4,500 feet (1,400 m) above ground level with towering cumulus cloud. The temperature was 23 °C (74 °F). According to the Canada Air Pilot, runway 24L has a heading of 227° true (237° magnetic), and the minima for the ILS approach are ceiling 250 feet (75 m) above ground level and visibility 1 statute mile (1.6 km) runway visual range (RVR). The METAR for 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT), nearly an hour after the accident, shows wind backing to the south and improving conditions generally, but includes in its remarks "FU ALF" to indicate smoke aloft from the burning plane.

The CBC reported that the crash occurred two hours after operations at the airport were grounded because of severe thunderstorms in the area ("red alert" status). Visibility at the time of the accident was reported to be very poor. There was lightning, strong gusty winds, and hail at the time and the rain just began as the plane was landing. Within two hours the winds increased from 5 to 30 km/h (3 to 20 mph) and the temperature dropped from 30 to 23 °C (86 to 74°F). A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect since 11:30 a.m. and all outbound flights and ground servicing operations had been cancelled but landings were still permitted.

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Injuries

None of the passengers on Flight 358 were killed, and approximately 43 suffered non life-threatening injuries. According to passenger reports, some of the injuries included broken necks and broken legs. The pilot sustained head injuries during the impact of the crash when his seat lifted off causing him to hit his head against the overhead controls. Those injured were taken to various Toronto area hospitals:

  • Humber River Regional Hospital - Finch campus
  • Sir William Osler Regional Health Centre - Etobicoke campus
  • Hospital for Sick Children - downtown Toronto
  • Peel Memorial Hospital - Brampton site
  • Credit Valley Hospital - Mississauga
  • St. Joseph's Health Centre - downtown Toronto

At the crash site were a number of emergency services:

A class-action lawsuit was filed approximately a week after the crash in Ontario Superior Court of Justice; the lawsuit seeks C$269 million in damages for trauma, any future medical expenses, and loss of property and earnings.

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Investigation

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) took control of the accident site once emergency response teams had finished their work. The TSB will lead the investigation, with the cooperation of several other organizations:

International protocol regarding the investigation of civil aviation accidents mandates that representatives from the manufacturer's nation be represented. As GEAE is headquartered in Connecticut, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada invited representatives from the NTSB to assist in the investigation. [3]

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (black boxes) were sent to France for analysis. Preliminary results indicate that the plane landed 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) from the start of the 2,750 meter (9,000 ft) runway (further along than normal) at a ground speed of 148 knots (274 km/h, 170 mph, 140 knots being considered normal) with a tailwind, skidded down the runway and was traveling over 70 knots (145 km/h, 90 mph) as it tore off the tarmac and plunged into the 30 meter (100 ft) deep ravine. Tire marks extend 1,600 ft (490 meters) indicating emergency braking action.

Réal Levasseur, the TSB's lead investigator for the accident, said the plane landed too far down the runway to have been able to stop properly on such wet pavement. Investigators have found no evidence of engine trouble, brake failure, or problems with the spoilers or thrust reversers. Why evacuation chutes failed to deploy from two exits remains under study. Fleeing passengers were forced to jump some 2 meters (6 feet) to the ground.

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Compensation

Within one week of the crash, cash payments, ranging from C$1000 to C$3700, were given to passengers for interim emergency use. These funds were given to passengers through an emergency centre set up in the Novotel Hotel in Mississauga, near the airport. These payments were independent of the claims process, which has been started to passengers who have not retained counsel. It is expected that the insurers of Air France will pay for all damages as well as extra compensation for having passengers go through the ordeal; however, only amounts of 6,000 – 9,000 Euros have been offered, prompting passengers to turn to the lawsuit to seek legal action. The insurance is handled by Societe de Gestion & D'Expertises D'Assurances in France. All passengers have also been offered a free return ticket to any Air France destination in the world in the same fare class they were originally booked in on AF358.

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Class Action Lawsuit

Within a few days after, a class action suit has been filed on behalf of all passengers on board by representative plaintiff Suzanne Deak to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The attorneys representing Deak and the passengers are Gary R. Will and Paul Miller from Will Barristers in Toronto. The plaintiffs are seeking payments for general and aggravated damages in the amount of C$75,000,000.00, and payments for special damages and pecuniary damages in the amount of C$250,000,000.00.

A second class action lawsuit was also filed by plaintiffs Sahar Alqudsi and Younis Qawasmi (her husband) for C$150,000,000.00 a few days later. However, both suits have since merged as only one lawsuit is allowed to proceed to court.

Air France has made a statement claiming that they will not lose any money from the lawsuits, as it is covered by their insurers. Air France has also refused to provide further contacts and assistance to those who retained counsel of the lawsuit until an agreement has been made between both sides' lawyers.

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See also

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External links

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Lawsuit Coverage

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News coverage

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