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Delays, Cancellations Expected at Toronto Airport in Aftermath of Crash

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

TORONTO (CP) - The chairman of Air France was on his way to Canada's most populous city Wednesday for a first-hand look at the aftermath of a fiery plane crash that spared the lives of all 309 people on board when it skidded off a rain-drenched runway and into a muddy ravine.

Police urged commuters to resist staring at the broken body of the Airbus A-340, which remained slumped in a wooded area just metres from Canada's busiest highway, coated in fire-retardant foam, a wingtip jutting above the trees.

The plane was attempting to land in the midst of a violent thunderstorm Tuesday when it skidded off a rain-soaked runway at Pearson International Airport and toppled into a wooded ravine before bursting into flames.

All 309 people aboard the plane managed to escape, many jumping to the ground from the emergency exits as the cabin rapidly filled with smoke from the burning engines. Only 43 people were taken to hospital, none of whom were reported to have suffered serious injuries.

Air France officials, including chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta, a medical team and a psychologist, were scheduled to arrive Wednesday in Toronto to investigate the crash and help ensure the continuing health of its passengers.

"I want to pay homage to the crew," Spinetta told a news conference Wednesday at the airline's headquarters in France. "I don't know if we should speak of a miracle . . . but above all the professionalism of the crew."

Toronto radio station CFRB reported Wednesday that the pilot of the ill-fated Airbus may have been the last person off the burning plane.

Before leaving the burning wreckage, the pilot - a 57-year-old Air France veteran who was injured in the crash - sent a radio message to report he had made a complete row-by-row sweep of the aircraft to ensure all passengers had escaped.

Spinetta said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash but promised that Air France would be "totally transparent" in follow-up inquiries.

The Transportation Safety Board was also on hand Wednesday for an ongoing investigation into the cause of the crash.

Ontario Provincial Police were asking commuters on Highway 401 to be cautious and to avoid staring at the wreckage the plane, which continued to smoulder just metres from the edge of the highway, the country's most heavily-travelled traffic artery.

Police reported two accidents on the highway Tuesday that they said were related to gawkers.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said Pearson would resume normal operations Wednesday, but it was expected to be a day of delays, cancellations and frustration as long lineups continued to grow at ticket counters throughout the morning. Some of the stranded passengers were forced to bunk overnight at the airport on foam mattresses.

All passengers flying to and from Toronto were being asked to call ahead and confirm the status of their flights.

Air Canada is also advising passengers whose flights have been cancelled to call the reservations line rather than show up at the airport, where officials were trying to manage a huge backlog of travellers delayed by the crash.

Many passengers, including one of the co-pilots, were buffeted with torrents of rain and high winds as they climbed up the muddy embankment of Etobicoke Creek ravine, some without their shoes, to flag down wide-eyed drivers in the moments after the crash.

"There was the fear of the explosion because we were all trying to go up a hill that was all mud," said Gwen Dunlop, a Toronto resident who was on her way back from a vacation in France.

"We had lost our shoes, we were just scrambling, and there were people with children. The rain was just coming down, and the wind and the lightning. We were just thrown into the weather and thrown into everything. There were people climbing over seats to get out."

Everyone on board the Airbus 340 jet - including 104 Canadian passengers - was able to get off the plane before it caught fire. It was the first crash of an Airbus 340, which is capable of carrying 350 passengers, in 13 years of commercial service.

Source: Canadian Press

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