|
Air France Crash Probe Starts Amid Landing Dispute
TORONTO (AFP) - An Air France jet that crashed at a Toronto airport was working normally as it arrived, Canadian investigators said, but a dispute erupted over who approved the landing during a storm.Canadian authorities and Air France sought to deflect responsibility on who approved the landing while Toronto Pearson International Airport was on "red alert" because of a lightning storm. The Airbus A340 jet hurtled off the runway and ended up in a gully in flames. But all of the 297 passengers and 12 crew survived in what Canada's Transport Minister Jean Lapierre said was a "miracle". Crash investigators have found the so-called black box flight recorders and are studying the information. They said the jet appeared headed for a safe landing before it skidded off the end of the runway. "The initial landing appeared very normal," said Real Levasseur, lead investigator for the Canadian transportation safety agency. "There was no emergency declared from the part of the air crew and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the aircraft condition and its safety as it was approaching to land." ... [A] strong tail wind may have given the plane a push as it sped along the runway. Media reports have highlighted other theories. Passengers and witnesses have said the jet was hit by lightning as it descended. Experts have also said it could have aquaplaned because of the torrential rain in the area. Pearson airport had earlier stopped landings and departures because of the storm, which investigators have already said probably played a key role in the accident. Investigators have questioned the co-pilot who was at the controls, but they gave no details. The decision to land has already become a controversy. Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta indicated that it was the control tower that decided the Airbus could come down in a storm, while Canadian transport minister Lapierre said it had been the pilot's decision to land. The captain of the jet injured his back in the accident and investigators will not interview him until doctors give approval, Levasseur said. A flight attendant and 12 passengers were still in hospital, according to officials... Posted by: Pappy 2005-08-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=125959 |