TORONTO — Canadian regulators investigating an Air France plane that skidded off a runway and burst into flames at a Toronto airport said Wednesday it came in too high and too fast, and called for mandatory standards for landing in thunderstorms.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said flight crews should always have to estimate the distance needed to land in severe weather and called for more safe areas at the end of runways.
In their final report into the August 2005 crash of Air France Flight 358, investigators reiterated earlier findings that the Airbus A340 landed too far down the runway. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members survived, suffering only minor injuries after the plane skidded into a ravine and burst into flames.
Many of the passengers have blamed the pilots for landing nearly halfway down the runway in poor weather and are suing the airline for negligence.
“There can be no doubt that the story of Air France flight 358 is a story of survival, a story of the survival of all 309 people on board. Even so I’m certain all on board that day will tell you that no one should have to go through what they went through,” Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Wendy Tadros said.
“With shifting winds and limited visibility it came in too high and too fast, touching down almost halfway along the wet and slippery runway. It simply ran out of room.”
The plane landed 3,800 feet down the 9,000-foot runway at Toronto’s Lester Pearson International Airport.
The board made seven recommendations to increase landing safety, noting that since that accident, 10 large aircraft have gone off runways around the world in bad weather.
Key recommendations include a requirement that crews always estimate the distance needed for landing during severe weather and instructions to passengers to leave all carry-on baggage behind during evacuation.
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