Air France Flight 358

Aircraft The aircraft involved was an Airbus A340-313E, with aircraft registration F-GLZQ; it was powered by four CFM International CFM56 engines. It was delivered to Air France in September 1999, and had logged 3,711 flights Three of the passengers were seated in crew seats, one in the third occupant seat of the flight deck and two in the flight crew rest area. ==Accident==

At 16:03 EDT (20:03 UTC) on 2 August 2005, Air France Flight 358 overshot the end of the runway after landing on Runway 24 Left at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and came to rest in a small ravine just outside the airport perimeter. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members successfully evacuated the aircraft. The plane had been cleared to land at 16:01 EDT on Runway 24L, which, at in length, is the shortest runway at Pearson Airport. After touchdown, the aircraft did not stop before the end of the runway, but continued for another until it slid into the Etobicoke Creek ravine at a speed of , on the western edge of the airport immediately north of Highway 401. After the aircraft had stopped, the crew saw fire outside and began evacuation. When the emergency exits were opened, one of the right middle exit slides (R3) deflated after being punctured by debris from the aircraft, while one of the left slides (L2) failed to deploy at all for unknown reasons. The two rear left exits remained closed due to the fire. Emergency response teams arrived on site within 52 seconds of the accident occurring. The TSB official report states that "the first response vehicle arrived at the scene within one minute of the crash alarm sounding". Immediate aftermath After the accident, some of the passengers, including those who were injured, scrambled up the ravine onto Highway 401, which runs almost parallel to the runway. Peel Regional Police located the first officer and several passengers along the highway, receiving assistance from motorists who had been passing the airport at the time of the crash. Some of the injured passengers and the co-pilot were taken directly to hospitals by motorists, and the uninjured passengers were transported by motorists to the airport. The main fire continued to burn for two hours, dying out just before 18:00 EDT. All of the fires were extinguished by the early afternoon of the following day, at which time investigators were able to begin their work. |alt=An aerial image of an 18-lane freeway. The freeway is divided into four separate set of lanes, known as carriageways. The accident led to the cancellation or diversion of hundreds of flights, with ripple effects throughout the North American air traffic system. Four of the five runway surfaces at Pearson Airport were back in service by the night of 2 August, but the flight and passenger backlog continued through the next day. The accident also caused heavy traffic congestion throughout Toronto's highway system. Highway 401 is one of the world's busiest highways, and is the main route through the Greater Toronto Area; the crash occurred near the highway's widest point where eighteen lanes of traffic are directed toward major intersections with Highways 403 and 410 to the southwest and Highway 427 to the northeast. Although the fire was extinguished within hours, there was considerable congestion on the highway for days after the accident due to motorists slowing down or pulling over to view the wreckage. This created numerous traffic collisions, prompting the Ontario Provincial Police to increase patrols along that section of the highway. ==Weather conditions==

A METAR (weather observation) for Pearson 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 gusting to , with visibility in thunderstorms and heavy rain. The ceiling was overcast at above ground level with towering cumulus clouds. The temperature was . 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, while noting smoke aloft from the burning plane. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the accident happened two hours after a ground stop was declared at the airport because of severe thunderstorms in the area ("red alert" status, which, for safety reasons, halts all ground activity on the apron and gate area. Aircraft can still land, and take off if still in queue). ==Injuries==

The table below summarizes the injuries as reported by the TSB. Of the twelve occupants who sustained major injuries, nine suffered the injuries from the impact and three from the evacuation. William Osler Health Centre, Etobicoke General Hospital, Credit Valley Hospital, and Peel Memorial Hospital were additional nearby hospitals that had admitted victims of the crash. In addition to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, on-site emergency services were also provided by Peel Regional Paramedic Services, Peel Regional Police, Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, Toronto EMS, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ontario Provincial Police patrolled Highway 401. Toronto Transit Commission transit buses were used as shelter for victims near the crash site. ==Investigation==

Representation Once the emergency response teams had finished their work, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) took control of the accident site and led the investigation, with the cooperation of several other organizations in accordance with the provisions of ICAO Annex 13: • Transport Canada as the country of occurrence's representative • Air France as the operator • Airbus as the airframe manufacturer • GE Aviation as the engine manufacturer • French Department of Transport representing the country of operator and airframe manufacturer • United States National Transportation Safety Board representing the country of the engine manufacturer Mark Rosenker, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), criticized the concept of passengers taking photographs of disasters, stating, "Your business is to get off the airplane. Your business is to help anybody who needs help." • Passenger oxygen tanks supposedly exploded in the heat of the fire. (Emergency passenger oxygen is provided via a chemical oxygen generator but the aircraft would have been carrying therapeutic oxygen for passengers requiring a constant supply throughout the flight and first aid situations.) • The copy of the "E.R.S. Aircraft Crash Chart" at Pearson International Airport did not include blueprints for the Airbus A340 model of planes at the time of the accident. The blueprints would have contained vital information with regard to search and rescue efforts, and would have provided the location of fuel and pressurized gas tanks so that rescue crews could avoid them. Other irregularities that were not confirmed nor denied by officials: • 12 seconds elapsed between the moment the plane touched down and when pilots applied the thrust reversers, which are used to assist braking • One of the aircraft doors opened on its own during the landing, according to witnesses. Black boxes are unable to reveal this data. Conclusions The TSB concluded in its final report that the pilots had missed cues that would have prompted them to review their decision to land, and also that: • Air France had no procedures related to distance required from thunderstorms during approaches and landings. • After the autopilot had been disengaged, the pilot flying increased engine thrust in reaction to a decrease in airspeed and a perception that the aircraft was sinking. The power increase contributed to an increase in aircraft energy and the aircraft deviated above the flight path. • At above ground level, the wind changed from a headwind to a tailwind. • While approaching the threshold, the aircraft entered an intense downpour and the forward visibility became severely reduced. • When the aircraft was near the threshold, the crew members committed to the landing and believed their go-around option no longer existed. • The pilot not flying did not make the standard callouts concerning the spoilers and thrust reversers during the landing roll. This contributed to the delay in the pilot flying selecting the thrust reversers. • There were no landing distances indicated on the operational flight plan for a contaminated runway condition at the Toronto / Lester B. Pearson International Airport. • The crew did not calculate the landing distance required for runway 24L despite aviation routine weather reports (METARs) calling for thunderstorms. The crew was not aware of the margin of error. • The topography at the end of the runway and the area beyond the end of Runway 24L contributed to aircraft damage and injuries to crew and passengers. The TSB advised changes to bring Canadian runway standards in line with those used abroad, either by extending them to have a runway end safety area (RESA) or, where that is not possible, providing an equivalently effective backup method of stopping aircraft. Other recommendations made by the TSB included having the Canadian Department of Transport establish clear standards limiting approaches and landings in convective weather for all operators at Canadian airports, and mandate training for all pilots involved in Canadian air operations to better enable them to make landing decisions in bad weather. ==Litigation==

Passenger class action Within a few days of the accident, a class action suit was 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 were Gary R. Will and Paul Miller from Will Barristers in Toronto. The plaintiffs sought payments for general and aggravated damages in the amount of $75 million, and payments for special damages and pecuniary damages in the amount of $250 million. A second class action lawsuit was also filed by plaintiffs Sahar Alqudsi and Younis Qawasmi (her husband) for $150 million a few days later. Ultimately, both suits were consolidated because only one lawsuit was allowed to proceed to court. In December 2009, a $12 million settlement was reached between Air France and the class representing 184 of the 297 passengers (no crew members included) aboard Flight 358, for a total of $12 million. Air France agreed to pay $10 million and was released from passengers' claims stemming from the accident, according to the judgment's summary. Airbus and Goodrich, the company that made the emergency evacuation system on the plane, agreed to pay $1.65 million, and claims against them in a lawsuit were released. The settlement resolved the claims of 184 passengers and their families; 45 other passengers had opted out of the suit, while 68 others had already agreed to a settlement with Air France. J.J. Camp, a Vancouver lawyer representing claimants, stated that passengers seriously harmed with either physical or psychological injuries were eligible for the maximum payout of $175,000. Passengers who were not seriously harmed in the accident would receive the minimum payment of between $5,000 and $10,000. In the statement of claim filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Air France alleged that the "GTAA failed to provide a safe environment for the conduct of civil air operations." The statement also claims that "The overrun and the consequent injuries to persons and damage to property were caused solely by the negligence of the defendants". Air France says Transport Canada was "negligent" by not implementing the recommendations of a coroner's inquest into the 1978 crash that urged the creation of a 300-metre safety area to give aircraft more room to stop after landing. ==Aftermath==

An inquiry by the TSB found runway safety zones at the end of runways at some Canadian airports to be below accepted international standards. The report also highlighted that Toronto Pearson's runways meet current Canadian standards, and that runway 24L has a de facto RESA. The TSB also suggested that precautions should be taken by airlines when landing in bad weather. The runway on which the Air France plane landed in August 2005, 24L-06R, is an east–west runway with a length of . This runway did not yet exist at the time of the Air Canada crash in 1978. At that time, the current runway 24R-06L was numbered 24L-06R, and the current runway 23-05 was numbered 24R-06L. ==Dramatization==

The Canadian television series Mayday (also known as Air Crash Investigation, Air Emergency, Air Disasters or Mayday: Air Disaster) featured the accident in the season 4 opening episode titled "Miracle Escape" ("Desperate Escape" in certain markets), which included interviews with survivors and a dramatization of the accident. This accident is also featured on The Weather Channel television programs Storm Stories and Why Planes Crash.'''' ==See also==