Island airport crash threat

British crash revives concerns about similar vulnerability at Island airport

By Dennis Findlay –

Toronto City Centre Airport
(Photo by Duncan McAllister)

CommunityAIR today released a copy of a letter it has sent to Minister of  Transport Lawrence Cannon detailing a number of serious safety  concerns at the Toronto Island Airport, including the substandard length of  the runway, the frequency of hazardous bird strikes and the airport’s  proximity to a densely-populated area. According to a spokesperson for the waterfront advocacy group, these concerns are heightened by fears that new legislation contained in Bill C-7 will lead to censorship of air
safety reports.

“With recent incidents like yesterday’s crash-landing at Heathrow and an Air Canada plane losing control at 35,000 feet, air safety is a top-of-mind issue for Canadians,” said CommunityAIR Chair Brian Iler. “It is vital that the public continue to have access to information about air safety incidents, including ones reported by airline employees. We’re very concerned that the federal government is going in the opposite direction with Bill C-7.”

The analysis contained in CommunityAIR’s letter to Cannon is in part based on information gleaned from incident reports in Transport Canada’s own publicly-available Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS). The group concludes that the margin of safety at the Toronto Island Airport is so narrow that the slightest mishap could result in tragedy. “In our view,” said Iler, “the question to ask is not whether, but when, this airport will be shut down as not coming close to today’s safety
standards.”