Toronto crash 'blame-game' on

2005-08-04 16:32

Toronto - Canadian authorities and Air France have sought to deflect reponsibility on who took responsibiliting for letting an Air France jet land at Toronto airport before it crashed.

Canada's transport minister Jean Lapierre said it was the pilot's decision.

Air France chair Jean-Cyril Spinetta indicated that it was the ground control at Lester B Pearson airport that decided the Airbus A340 jet could land in a lightning storm.

"There is no recommendation that can force a plane to land," Lapierre told Radio-Canada television late on Wednesday.

"The only person who makes a decision to land is the pilot, the commander.

"And as a result, he has full responsibility for that decision," Lapierre added.

The crash, in which the 297 passengers and 12 crew amazingly scrambled to safety in under two minutes, was the first operational accident involving an A340 jet in 13 years of commercial service.

Airport authorities

Spinetta, who is in Toronto, seemed to blame airport authorities for allowing the landing on tuesday.

"Airport authorities apparently deemed conditions for landing difficult, but still possible" despite rain and wind, he told a news conference.

"The Air France jet, I have personally confirmed this, had enough fuel left, if it had been necessary, to land at another airport," he said.

Air France executive director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said earlier that "there probably was too much water on the runway."

The airport had been closed because of the storm shortly before Flight 358 arrived and it was held up at first, officials said.

- AFP