Air France Jet Overran Runway

Investigators said Friday that the Air France jet that crashed earlier this week appeared to have landed too far down the runway, which may have contributed to it skidding off its path and into a ravine before bursting into flames.

They were quick to add that it was too soon to determine whether the long landing on the 9,000-foot runway, combined with torrential rains and gusting winds, was to blame for the crash on Tuesday, which all 309 people on board remarkably survived.

"We do have some information that the aircraft did land long," Real Levasseur, chief investigator for Canada's Transportation Safety Board, told a news briefing. "We are still in the process of gathering all that data to find out what that means."

When pressed on whether landing long would have contributed to the crash, Levasseur said: "An aircraft like the 340 should land well toward the back; how long exactly depends on weight, heavy winds, there are a number of factors," he said. "We will certainly be looking at information; and if it turns out the aircraft did land further down the runway ... we will try to determine whether this had a major or critical effect."

Witnesses and some passengers have said that it appeared that Air France Flight 358 from Paris was coming in too fast and too long when it landed at about 4 p.m. in thunderstorms.

"There are quite a few witnesses who say they observed the aircraft halfway down the runway, longer than normal and longer than usual for this type of aircraft," he said.
But the transatlantic flight had been mostly routine, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. The four-engine plane took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, and while it was briefly delayed by weather, the jetliner made a normal approach to Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

The first sign of trouble came minutes before landing when the pilot aborted an initial attempt to land the plane because of the storm and powerful winds.

"The lights went off, like, a minute before landing. And then the plane landed normally for maybe 10 seconds. And then after that, the disaster happened," passenger Oliver Dubos told co-anchor Hannah Storm.

Levasseur said there was no evidence, meanwhile, that lightning struck the Airbus A340 as it was landing, as reported by some witnesses. "The wings and wing tips are in pretty good shape."

He also said investigators have determined that all four engine thrust-reversers were in operation and working fine, "so that's a good sign."

An Air France spokesman in Paris declined to comment, saying the carrier would wait for the result of a full investigation before publicly discussing the possible cause of the crash.

The captain of the Air France jet, meanwhile, remained hospitalized with back injuries on Friday and would not be questioned until his physical state improves, officials said.

The co-pilot of Air France Flight 358, which crashed at Canada's busiest airport, was questioned Thursday as investigators try to piece together why the plane skidded off the runway and burst into flames after landing in a ravine. Investigators said details of the co-pilot queries were "privileged" information and would not be made public at this time.

He said the flight attendants — widely praised for having gotten the passengers off the burning aircraft within two minutes — had also been questioned and were eager to return to Paris and rejoin their families.

Air France has said the co-pilot was at the controls when the Airbus 340 skidded off runway 24L at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport. Air France said the co-pilot had 10,700 hours of flying time, and the 57-year-old pilot had 15,000 hours.

Levasseur said the air crew did not declare an emergency to air traffic controllers as the Airbus A340 approached the runway at 160 mph in heavy rains and lightning. It then skidded some 200 yards off east-west runway at 95 mph, he said.

He said Thursday that preliminary evidence suggests there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, but that still needed to be confirmed.

"The initial landing appeared very normal," he said. "There was no emergency declared on the part of the air crew."

The flight data and voice recorders — the so-called "black boxes" — were recovered Wednesday and send to TSB headquarters in Quebec. But Canada does not have the proper equipment to download the data, so it would take several days to get the equipment from France.

The black boxes may indicate whether the passenger jet experienced brake failure and hydraulic pressure problems during its failed landing.

The wreckage of the jetliner remained off the side of Highway 401, where many of the passengers had wandered after escaping the wreckage.

Brian Lackey, vice president of operations for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, said Wednesday the jetliner had enough fuel to divert to Montreal or another airport where the weather was better, but "that's the pilot's decision."

The airport was under a "red alert," which indicates potential for lightning and forces ground staff to remain indoors, but does not prevent planes from landing or taking off. Levasseur said the decision to land during a "red alert" would be investigated.

He emphasized that wind shear likely wasn't a factor in the crash — as has been speculated — because that usually would only affect aircraft in flight. He also doubted lightning played a role.

Levasseur on Thursday dismissed questions about whether the east-west runway was long and safe enough, saying it met international standards.

The Air Line Pilots Association however, disputed this, saying the ravine at the end of the runway may have contributed to the crash.

"The crash of Air France Flt. 358 in Toronto occurred at an international airport that, unfortunately, does not meet international standards," said a statement by the union, which represents 64,000 airline pilots at 41 airlines in Canada and the United States.

"It is the latest in a series of airline accidents that highlight the dangers of inadequate runway safety areas," said the statement.

It noted that in 1978, two passengers were killed and more than 100 injured on board an Air Canada DC-9 that overran the runway and smashed into the same gully.