Air France Flight 358

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: August 2, 2005
Aircraft: Airbus A340

Air France Flight 358, carrying 309 people, crashed at 4:03 p.m. on August 2, 2005, while landing in severe weather at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The Air France flight, which originated in Paris, skidded into a ravine and burst into flames upon landing. While all passengers and crew members survived by jumping out of the plane before the fire broke out, several passengers were rushed to the hospital with injuries.

The crash occured in a wooded area next to one of Canada's busiest highways, and some survivors said that passengers had scrambled up to the road to catch rides with passing cars.

On August 5, 2005, Motley Rice along with Canadian co-counsel Will Barristers: Morin & Miller filed a class action suit in Canada against Air France, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority and NAV Canada. The claim has been filed on behalf of all passengers of Air France Flight 358 which crashed after landing in a thunderstorm at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport on August 2, 2005. Motley Rice and co-counsel Will Barristers: Morin & Miller joined forces on October 11, 2005 with Camp Fiorante Matthews. The merger of counsel provided a united front against Air France and the other named defendants, on behalf of all passengers on board Flight 358 and their families.

This is not the first incident for the Airbus A340. A similar disaster weather-related crash occurred in Little Rock, Arkansas in June 1999. During severe thunderstorms, an American Airlines flight crashed after it overran the end of runway during landing at Little Rock National Airport. NTSB reports state that, in addition to weather, contributing to the fatal accident were the flight crew's impaired performance resulting from fatigue and the situational stress associated with the intent to land under the circumstances.