Air France Flight 358, a flight from Paris, France, to Toronto, Canada, using an Airbus A340 airliner, departed Paris without incident at 11:53 UTC 2 August 2005, later touching down on runway 24L at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 20:01 UTC (16:01 EDT). The aircraft failed to stop on the runway, plunged into nearby Etobicoke Creek, and came to rest, bursting into flames, approximately 300 metres past the end of the runway. The Airbus A340-300 had 309 people aboard – 297 passengers (two of them infants, without seats) and 12 crew – all of whom survived, with only 12 sustaining serious injuries. The accident highlighted the role played by highly-trained flight attendants during an emergency situation.
Due to poor weather, 540 flights departing and arriving at Pearson were cancelled. Many small and mid-size aircraft due to arrive were diverted to other Canadian airports in Ottawa, London, Hamilton, and Winnipeg. Most of the larger aircraft were diverted to Montreal, Syracuse, New York, and Buffalo, New York. Flights from Vancouver were turned back.
The crash of Air France Flight 358 was the biggest crisis to hit Toronto Pearson since the airport's involvement in Operation Yellow Ribbon.
Jean Lapierre, the Canadian Minister of Transport, referred to Flight 358 as a "miracle" because all of the passengers survived. Other press sources described the accident as the "Miracle in Toronto", the "Toronto Miracle", the "Miracle" Escape, and the Miracle of Runway 24L".
Read more about Air France Flight 358: Aircraft, Passengers, Accident, Weather, Dramatization, Injuries, Compensation, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words air, france and/or flight:
“The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature—were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
“The good critic is he who relates the adventures of his soul among masterpieces.”
—Anatole France (1844–1924)
“Here I am.... You get the parts of me you like and also the parts that make you uncomfortable. You have to understand that other people’s comfort is no longer my job. I am no longer a flight attendant.”
—Patricia Ireland (b. 1935)