Did the pilots try to avoid the fire truck?
This question can’t yet be answered with certainty, but some clues exist.
First, reverse thrust appears to have been used. This can be seen on the engines mounted on the plane’s tail. It is typical on landing that pilots will activate the reverse thrust, where the engine casing slides back to redirect airflow forward.
In photos of the wreckage, the engine casing appears to be in position to provide reverse thrust.
The flight data recorder, now recovered, will indicate whether pilots activated maximum reverse thrust, possibly after spotting the truck. The cockpit voice recorder, also now recovered, would likely contain reaction from the pilots.
Both were killed.
Passenger Clément Lelièvre told The Canadian Press he believed the pilots had reacted.
“Just as the plane touched down, the pilot braked extremely hard,” said Lelièvre, a French national and frequent flyer.
This type of aircraft also has brakes on the landing gear. Both the brakes and the reverse thrust can be applied at varying levels, much like the brakes on a car.
Data from the tracking site Flightradar24 also shows the aircraft deviating to the right of the centre line as it rumbled down the runway, immediately before the crossing with taxiway D, where the collision occurred.
While it is possible the pilots steered the aircraft to avoid the fire truck, which had approached from the left, none of this is definitive.
But it will fuel questions about whether the pilots saw the fire truck enter the runway, and attempted to avoid it.
