The Air France jet that overshot the runway and erupted in flames at a Toronto airport landed further down the runway from where it should have normally touched down, the lead investigator into the crash said Friday.

Air France flight 358 landed "longer than normally, or longer than usual for this type of aircraft," Transportation Safety Board investigator Real Levasseur told a news conference in Toronto.

He said investigators are still trying to determine how long along the runway the jet actually landed.

Witnesses have already suggested the plane carrying 309 passengers and crew was nearly halfway down the runway at Pearson International Airport before it touched down. Everyone on board escaped with their lives with 43 people suffering minor injuries in the accident on Tuesday.

Investigators have sent the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the jet to France to access the key details documenting the moments before the crash. Canada lacks the high- tech equipment needed to download the crucial data.

Levasseur also noted that there is no evidence the aircraft was struck by lightning during its failed landing, despite eyewitness reports said that a bolt of lightning appeared to hit the plane during its final descent.

Investigators hope information contained in the black boxes will indicate whether the passenger jet experienced brake trouble or hydraulic pressure problems during the failed landing.

However, the blame may also be on the side of the airport, according to the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 64,000 pilots throughout North America. The association issued a release Thursday saying that Pearson has inadequate runway safety areas - laneways free of obstacles that extend past the actual runway.

According to a Canadian Press report, in 1978, an Air Canada DC- 9 skidded off a parallel runway and into the ravine, killing two people on board and injuring 105. A coroner's jury then recommended building a causeway over the ravine to give planes more room for error, but it was never done.

But Levasseur dismissed the notion that the runway is too short for the Airbus A-340.

Source: Xinhua