Jumbo jet overshoots runway in Canada, no injuries

TORONTO

Wednesday, 27 August 2008 02:28:01

-

An Air France jumbo jet carrying more than 500 passengers and crew overshot the runway as it landed Tuesday night in Montreal, but there were no injuries, an airport official said.

The Boeing 747 arriving from Paris came to a stop with its nose wheel in the grass by the tarmac, airport spokeswoman Stephanie Lepage told The Associated Press.

Emergency vehicles raced to the site of the 6 p.m. landing at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Lepage said none of the 490 passengers and 18 crew was injured. "It was minor," she added. Passengers exited the aircraft safely and were shuttled to the airport in groups.

There was no apparent damage to the aircraft, most of which sat on its landing gear on the runway. Only the nose landing wheels were off the runway.

Federal Transportation Safety Board spokesman Julie Leroux said they are investigating the cause rough landing. She had no other details.

An Air France plane skidded off a runway at Toronto's Pearson airport in 2006 and burst into flames. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members survived, suffering only minor injuries after the plane skidded into a ravine.