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October 03, 2005
That, a time machine and a nickel will buy you a hot cup of jack squat
The Star's feature writers are apparently not on speaking terms with the Star's headline writers. This morning's fiery front page offered a picture of Air France's woebegone Airbus in Etobicoke Creek. Above said picture were the words "THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED"'; below it, the following:
A series of simple safety measures common at many American airports could have prevented this crash. Experts say the runway should be longer, have grooves to mitigate wet conditions and be surrounded by a safety apron that stops runaway planes. Will changes at Pearson arrive soon enough to prevent disaster?
Leaving aside for the moment that universally agreed facts about flight 358 — i.e., that it touched down slightly fast and extremely long on a runway the pilots knew would be soaking wet, in weather they knew was terrible — point the finger of blame (if anywhere) squarely at the plane and/or its operators, the Star's "exclusive investigative report" offers no evidence whatsoever that the safety measures in question would have prevented the August 2 mishap. It's such a bloody stupid article, and so enormous, that it would be a waste of energy to pick it apart in depth.
Still, I can't get over this incredible idea that the runway "should be longer". I mean, how can someone propose such a thing without being crushed into dust by the sheer weight of his or her own idiocy? It's like saying the planes wouldn't have hit the World Trade Center if only the towers had been 50 storeys shorter. Grooved runways might help prevent future accidents, and so might EMAS beds, but the lack of them was no secret — Air France flies into Pearson every day of the year. As long as there are runways there will be airplanes running off the end of them, and no pilot is forced to land on any runway he feels is too short, too wet, too ungrooved, etc. Pearson's 24L is plenty long enough besides — if it wasn't, planes wouldn't be landing on it.
This really is one of the stupidest ideas of 2005. Longer runways! Fill in the ravine! In that same vein: 200 Kiwis and 57 others might still be alive today if only someone had thought to level Mount Erebus before November 28, 1979. More than 500 lives could have been saved if Mount Osutaka had been just slightly repositioned before August 12, 1985. When will we ever learn?
Posted by Chris Selley at October 3, 2005 12:59 AM
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