Air France Crash Landing

I didn’t expect my first drive after the long weekend to be as bad as it was today. There was a thunderstorm rolling through southern Ontario, and that usually slows down traffic. But that wasn’t the only reason traffic had been so slow. As I was listening to the radio, I heard of a crash landing of a plane at Pearson Airport. The news started to trickle slowly, and traffic started getting worse and worse. I moved 15 km in one hour, and as I looked at people around me, I saw a worried and concerned look on their faces. This time around I wasn’t frustrated with traffic as much as I was concerned with what happened, and hoping that the crash wasn’t bad.

The radio was reporting 4 lanes of the highway closed, leaving 3 open for through traffic. I was counting on getting through that section of the highway. But as I approached the airport I saw the plume of black smoke, and it hit me that the crash was a reality. All the sudden the highway was fully closed and I had to find a way around the traffic. I started looking for a map, and luckily I found one with all the regional highways. I somehow managed to reroute my way, looking at the map, and driving all at the same time. The 1.25 hour trip took 3.25 hours. But the stress of the traffic dissolved away when I heard that everyone survived the crash.

One of the things that truly bothered me about this experience is hearing about people who stopped their cars on the highway to just look at the crash. They didn’t just slow down, they stopped. Some were on the roofs of their cars, snapping pictures with their cell phones, hoping for some media outlet to buy their precious pictures. Ignorant people like that should have been ticketed by the police. It’s amazing how people can think of exploiting such situations!

On a brighter note, I was impressed by the quick reaction of the emergency vehicles and the cooperation between the airport and nearby cities to hospitalize the injured and evacuate the plane. Let’s hope the emergency crew will not have to face many of these situations anytime soon.

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