Air France Paris-Toronto Flight Crashed

Bavarian · #1 08-02-2005, 08:03 PM

You guys hear about the crash? The daily flight from Paris to Toronto crashed in Toronto today.

It was an Airbus A340. To tell you the truth, I don't understand why it was even allowed to attempt to land. We had severe thunderstorms the whole afternoon with gusty winds. Furthermore Pearson (our main airport) had issued a red alert around lunchtime, so there was no ground staff anyway!

The plane landed, but then skidded off the runway into the forest/ravine. It's lucky that it went into the ravine, because past the ravine is highway 401, the busiest highway in Canada.

Anyway, Pearson crews apparently got there in a record time of under 1 minute, and everybody was evacuated. There were only 12 minor injuries, no deaths out of the 297 passengers and 12 crew.

A happy ending indeed, however I do wonder how this happened. According to a passenger, the electricity in the airplane went off the second it touched down. Anyway, thought I'd give you guys a heads up.

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Juanted · #2 08-02-2005, 08:16 PM

Well, thankfully, according to the latest news reports, there were no casualties. That is very good news!

Juan

UCrewX5 · #3 08-02-2005, 08:18 PM

It's always good to hear it when everyone is able to walk away from an airplane incident.

PersonaNonGrata · #4 08-02-2005, 08:19 PM

That looks and sounds frightening but it is definitely better that it happened while they were on the ground. It they were still airborne when they lost all power....

Bavarian · #5 08-02-2005, 09:29 PM

I am very happy for these people.

See, in the summers of 2000, 2001 and 2002, I always flew to Bulgaria through Paris. And that is the exact flight with which I returned.

It's truly a miracle how 300 plus people all are not only alive, but none seriously injured. Because let me tell you, this damn thing was on fire alright.

In fact, up until 8PM, I could smell burning plastic in the air although the airport is 30km (19m) to the west of my place. They didn't put the fire out until this evening.

Anyway, I'll be interested to hear what caused this accident. However, I say again...with the kind of weather that we had this afternoon, that flight should have been diverted to Ottawa 500km (313m) northeast of here.

Curious Joel · #6 08-02-2005, 09:33 PM

The newsflash about this came on JUST as I was boarding the plane in Chicago this afternoon.

ricky.agrawal · #7 08-02-2005, 09:40 PM

Just as it touched the ground?
I thought the tires were insulted?

kirkX5m · #8 08-02-2005, 09:47 PM

Des témoins ont dit que l'avion avait peut-être été frappé par la foudre au moment où il se posait. Des survivants ont dit avoir "couru comme des fous" pour quitter l'appareil.

bozo · #9 08-03-2005, 02:31 AM

Plane crashes always suck, but I love hearing when the casualties are limited. I hate, and am always scared of flying, but these stories let me know that its not "automatic" that your going to bite the dust if you are in a plane crash.

gojira-san · #10 08-03-2005, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirkX5m

Des témoins ont dit que l'avion avait peut-être été frappé par la foudre au moment où il se posait. Des survivants ont dit avoir "couru comme des fous" pour quitter l'appareil.

(My translation for the non-French readers: "Witnesses thought the plane had been struck by lightning as it was landing. Survivors ran like crazy to get away from the plane." )

I heard that on the news this morning - that they think there was a possibility of a lightning strike. I also heard the passengers were running onto 401, and getting rides back to the terminal by passersby.

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