The report about the AirFrance Airbus 340 that crashed in Toronto on 2nd of August 2005 has been publised by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. To make a long story short, let’s say the weather was bad with thunderstorms around the airport, the crew landed long, the aircraft overran the runway and caught fire.

The report is 152 pages long, and adresses many topics, including crew resources management, decision making, procedures, evacuation, and is very instructive, so let me forumlate few personal comments.

It is NOT a miracle !
309 persons were on board, only 12 were injured, no one got killed. As I already explained in a post about a Boeing 737 under fire in Osaka, this is not the result of luck or a miracle, but of certification standards ! The report shows that the evacuation was not done in a 100% standard way, but nevertheless all occupants were out of the aircraft rapidly enough.

Complex and dynamic
Thunderstorms are by nature very dynamic and evolve within minutes, making decisions even harder to take. They even induce the need to constantly re-evaluate the situation, while still performing all crew duty. In this particular case, there was not only one but many thunderstorms located in airport’s vicinity.

No extracts here
As all accidents, the factors leading to this one are multiple and complex. This is also why investigation did last for more than two years !

I won’t publish any extract, not even of conlusions or recommentations, because outside of their context they could become misleading. Mainstream media and many internet forums already gave their own readings of the report, and each is biased by author’s opinion… just as the part of this post about evacuation is biased by my own opinion.

The best is to base your opinion and judgement on the report itself. Read it, and if you have any question, feel free to ask me.

Link to the report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.