Cover Story
Jet Struck by Lightning?By Judi McLeod
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Toronto-- Perhaps canadafreepress.com columnist Edward Zawadzki was right when he said that Air France Flight 358, which skidded off a runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport yesterday, sounded like "an implosion" that "reverberated" when it burst into spectacular flames.
Zawadzki, who lives within blocks of the airport, said he heard the thunder and lightning storms in the area around the time Flight 358 was landing in Toronto. "But the storms werent continuous, there were long lapses between them."
Officials said Flight 358 overshot the runway by 200 meters at 4:04 EST. The aircraft ended up in Etobicoke Creek ravine beside the 401, Canadas busiest highway during Toronto rush-hour traffic. Passengers and crew spilled out onto the busy highway attempting to flag down commuters. Hundreds of emergency vehicles raced to the scene and authorities had to shut the highway down.
Zawadzki, who rushed to the balcony of a tenant on a higher floor of the high-rise where he lives, said black plumes of smokes billowed from the burning aircraft.
Air France Flight 358 was on a non-stop flight from Paris to Toronto carrying 297 passengers and 12 crewmembers.
Although 43 passengers were treated at an airport triage and at nearby hospitals, there were no fatalities.
Passengers watching the landing heard loud bumps as the aircraft skidded off the runway and saw flames outside their windows.
As of this morning, it was still unclear whether the plane had been hit by lightning.
Experts say it is rare for lightning to hit an aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Association (FAA) has had the capacity to experiment with lightning hitting planes for at least the last decade.
"An experiment aimed at gathering new information about what occurs at ground zero of a lightning strike may lead to more effective lightning protection for airplanes," wrote Science Daily in August 1999. "While lightning rarely causes plane crashes, it is not unheard of, and the FAA plans to use the information to update its tests for new airplanes to ensure they are adequately protected against lightning researchers say."
According to a March 2004 story in Science Daily, Torontos legendary CN Tower acts as a lightning laboratory, teaching scientists how to protect delicate electronic equipment against high voltage surges.
Lightning strikes the 553-metre-high CN tower an average of 75 times per year.
"To direct the current into the ground, metallic conductors run down the tower and are connected to 42 grounding rods buried deep below surface.
"The unusual structure of the CN Towerwith its Skypod and observation deckobstructs the downward flow of electricity and causes the current to peak in certain areas. Identifying such patterns is critical to designing protective measures, says study co-author Wasyl Janischewskys, a professor emeritus at University of Torontos Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
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Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: You can read your Letters to the Editor here.
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