TORONTO'S PEARSON airport fails to meet international safety standards because it lacks runway overruns that could have prevented Tuesday's Air France crash, a major pilots union says.

The Air Line Pilots Association called on Pearson and other airports to build "runway safety areas" that extend well beyond runways and are free of obstacles, ravines and culverts -- as is recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

But the union, which represents 64,000 pilots across North America, concedes Pearson is not alone: There are dozens of major airports on the continent that do not meet the ICAO's safety standards.

Pearson is also in full compliance with all Transport Canada airport regulations.

Air France flight 358 overran runway 24L and crashed into the same ravine that "stopped" an Air Canada DC-9 in 1978. Two passengers died in that crash.

"Removing obstacles and filling in ravines and culverts is frequently the most straightforward solution," the union said in a statement yesterday.

Another option is to install an "engineered material arresting system" at the end of runways -- a specially designed concrete area that crushes under the weight of an aircraft to help it decelerate, the union said.

Such a system safely stopped an American Eagle twin-engine commuter plan that left the runway at New York's JFK airport in 1999.