Air France accident - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**TERI** · 08-02-2005, 02:16 PM

Air France passenger jet Flight 358 (A340) from Paris to Toronto Pearson International airport was atempting to land, skidded off the runway and was engulphed in flames. the plane ended up very close to the highway. An estimated 291 passengers were on board. I heard the pilot and co pilot are fine, and some ambulances were seen trying to evatuate the passengers. It is raining here pretty hard, and visability is nil. So far there has been two explotions from the plane. Most likely from the fuel. They are talking on the news right now about some people being taken to hospitals, and the possibility of evacuating the surrounding area.
Don't quote me on all of this. All the info I 'm reporting is bits and pieces from watching the news as I type.
Hopefully everyone is ok.

**GoKrazy** · 08-02-2005, 02:17 PM

Air France passenger plane went off the runway shortly after landing on the Pearson International Airport under an hour ago. Apparently there was a bad thunderstorm at the time and as the plane was about to land it seemed that it was flying too high. Some people managed to get away, but the flames and thick smoke are not boding well.

**GoKrazy** · 08-02-2005, 02:21 PM

Some news is just coming in from CP24.

My prayers go out for the health and well being of all those involved.

**kingcrazylegs** · 08-02-2005, 02:23 PM

Thanks for the info guys - I hope that they get it under control soon.

I merged your two topics guys, since they were about the same thing and posted almost at the exact same time!

**TERI** · 08-02-2005, 02:24 PM

I live about 15 minutes from the airport! It's been raining crazy hard here for about an hour. My power went out for 20 minutes.

**beergal** · 08-02-2005, 02:26 PM

is it me or does airfrance have a really bad safety record of late?

xanthuos · 08-02-2005, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by beergal1@Aug 2 2005, 02:25 PM
is it me or does airfrance have a really bad safety record of late?

Their safety record is not as good as others, but certainly not the worst out there.

Airline Rate Flights FLE
Air Canada 0.33 4.75M 1.58
American Airlines 0.59 17.0M 10.08
Northwest Airlines 0.28 9.2M 2.61
United Airlines 0.37 18.0M 6.69
Southwest Airlines 0.00 9.50M 0.00
Air France 0.55 5.90M 3.23
British Airways 0.22 6.35M 1.40
Alitalia 0.73 3.90M 2.83

FLE - This is the sum of the proportions of passengers killed for each fatal event. For example, 50 out of 100 passengers killed on a flight is an FLE of 0.50, 1 of 100 would be a FLE of 0.01. The fatal event rate for a set of fatal events is found by dividing the total FLE by the number of flights in millions.

**omisan** · 08-02-2005, 04:09 PM

Heh.. reminds me of:

Quote:

Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

**omisan** · 08-02-2005, 04:33 PM

Oh, and no deaths. Yay!

I remember when the Southwest plane I used to take regularly between Las Vegas and Burbank did the same thing... In dry weather. That one actually crossed Hollywood Way and crashed into a gas station.

**ED Larry** · 08-02-2005, 06:24 PM

i live really close to the airport and the thunder was crazy all day, I was surprise that they were letting plane's land... but i heard that all the people were OK... so that very good...

ed

**benna2** · 08-02-2005, 08:23 PM

This is really a miracle that no one was hurt. Imagine surviving a plane crash....This was a very lucky outcome for what could have happened.

**omisan** · 08-03-2005, 12:34 AM

It's like there were 300+ Bruce Willises on board...

wong name · 08-03-2005, 02:54 PM

here is some pictures of the plane after the crash

the plane

**LiveFreeorDie** · 08-03-2005, 04:02 PM

Quote:

It's like there were 300+ Bruce Willises on board...

Let's just hope Samuel L is not out there tracking them all down......

On a serious note, I read an article awhile back that noted how the passenger makeup oftentimes make all the difference in fatality rates (for crashes that don't kill everyone on contact). Planes containing frequent flyers generally fare much better in crashes than more tourist oriuented flights/routes. They have done a lot of simulation testing on this as well as studying actual crash data. People that pay attention to where the exits are and don't panic have a much better shot at getting out of a smoke filled plane (which seems rather obvious). Apparently, the first two minutes or so make all the difference. The article rcommended you always count the number of rows of seats betwen you and the nearest exit, so if you are crawling on the floor and can't see in the smoke, you can navigate to the exit by counting the rows. Hopefully none of us will ever be in that situation!

**IDDQD** · 08-04-2005, 07:48 AM

Now that my sisters a flight attendant, I cringe a little more when I hear about a plane crashing. Especially at Pearson, which is her home base.