The crash of Air France Flight 358 was the biggest crisis to hit Toronto Pearson since the airport's involvement in Operation Yellow Ribbon.

Jean Lapierre, the Canadian Minister of Transport, referred to Flight 358 as a "miracle" because everyone on board survived, despite the aircraft's complete destruction.

The unfavourable weather conditions, and the poor landing decisions made by the flight crew, were found to be major factors leading to the crash.

The aircraft involved was an Airbus A340-313E, with Manufacturer's Serial Number (MSN) 289 and registered as F-GLZQ; it was powered by four CFM International CFM56 engines.

After touchdown, the aircraft did not stop before the end of the runway, but continued on for another 300 metres (980 ft) until it slid into the Etobicoke Creek ravine at a speed of 148 km/h (80 kn; 92 mph), on the western edge of the airport near the interchange of Dixie Road and Highway 401.

Peel Regional Police located the first officer and several passengers along the highway, receiving assistance from motorists who had been passing the airport at the time of the crash.

The accident led to the cancellation or diversion of hundreds of flights, with ripple effects throughout the North American air traffic system.

Four of the five runway surfaces at Pearson Airport were back in service by the night of 2 August, but the flight and passenger backlog continued through the next day.

Although the fire was extinguished within hours, there was considerable congestion on the highway for days after the accident due to motorists slowing down or pulling over to view the wreckage.

The METAR for 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT), nearly an hour after the accident, shows wind backing to the south and improving conditions generally, while noting smoke aloft from the burning plane.

A severe thunderstorm warning had been in effect since 11:30 a.m., and all outbound flights and ground servicing operations had been canceled, but landings were still permitted.

[11] According to passenger reports, the leap from the aircraft to the ground caused numerous injuries, including broken legs and ruptured vertebrae.

Réal Levasseur Shedalin, the TSB's lead investigator for the accident, said the plane landed too far down the runway to have been able to stop properly on such wet pavement.

[29] Mark Rosenker, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), criticized the concept of passengers taking photographs of disasters, stating, "Your business is to get off the airplane.

[28] Helen Muir, an aerospace psychology professor at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, stated that pausing during evacuations "is just what we don't want people to do.

[10] Other possible irregularities mentioned in a government report on the accident:[30] Other irregularities that were not confirmed nor denied by officials: The TSB concluded in its final report that the pilots had missed cues that would have prompted them to review their decision to land,[10][33] and also that:[10] The TSB advised changes to bring Canadian runway standards in line with those used abroad, either by extending them to have a 300 m runway end safety area (RESA) or, where that is not possible, providing an equivalently effective backup method of stopping aircraft.

[10] Within one week of the accident, cash payments ranging from $1,000 to $3,700 (all figures in this section are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated) were given to passengers for interim emergency use.

Within a few days of the accident, a class action suit was filed on behalf of all passengers on board by representative plaintiff Suzanne Deak to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

A second class action lawsuit was also filed by plaintiffs Sahar Alqudsi and Younis Qawasmi (her husband) for $150 million a few days later.

Air France agreed to pay $10 million and was released from passengers' claims stemming from the accident, according to the judgment's summary.

Airbus and Goodrich, the company that made the emergency evacuation system on the plane, agreed to pay $1.65 million, and claims against them in a lawsuit were released.

J.J. Camp, a Vancouver lawyer representing claimants, stated that passengers seriously harmed with either physical or psychological injuries were eligible for the maximum payout of $175,000.

Air France did not provide further contacts and assistance to those who retained counsel of the lawsuit until an agreement has been made between both sides' lawyers.

Air France says Transport Canada was "negligent" by not implementing the recommendations of a coroner's inquest into the 1978 crash that urged the creation of a 300-metre safety area to give aircraft more room to stop after landing.

The Air Canada DC-9 blew a tire causing an aborted takeoff on the 24R-06L runway, crashing north of the AF358 accident scene and deeper into the ravine.

After the Air France crash in 2005, there were calls for the ravine to be filled or spanned by a bridge, but others argued that such an undertaking would have been prohibitively expensive.