Here is what we know so far about the Delta airlines flight that crash landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, flipping on its roof, injuring several people.
What happened?
Delta Air Lines flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto, operated by subsidiary Endeavor Air, was carrying a total of 80 people on board — 76 passengers and four crew members. Among the passengers, 22 of them were Canadian. The rest were multinational, according to Deborah Flint, president and CEO of the airport.
The plane crash happened at around 2:15 p.m. ET on Monday.
All passengers and crew were accounted for. There were no fatalities, however, Delta said 21 people, including a child, were initially taken to hospital from the crash. As of Tuesday morning, 19 of them were released and two remain hospitalized.
A division commander with Peel Paramedics, Cory Tkatch, said staff encountered a multitude of injuries mainly stemming from back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, headaches, nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure.
“It’s really important to recognize how grateful we are that there was no loss of life or life-threatening injuries in yesterday’s accident,” Flint said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. She added the injuries ranged from minor to critical but not life-threatening.
The aircraft was a Bombardier CRJ-900. Video posted to social media showed the aftermath with the plane overturned and firefighters dousing the aircraft as passengers climbed out and walked across the snowy tarmac.
“Airport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes and quickly evacuating the passengers,” Flint said.
New video emerged online showing the moment the plane landed, hitting the tarmac, and bursting into flames with thick black smoke before flipping over on its roof and coming to a stop.
Toronto Pearson fire chief Todd Aitken said crews witnessed spot fires and were able to quickly knock them down with aircraft rescue firefighting equipment.
On Monday, Pearson was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 51 km/h gusting to 65 km/h, according to the Meteorological Service of Canada. The temperature was about minus 8.6 degrees Celsius. The plane coming from Minneapolis arrived amid blowing snow following a winter storm that hit the Toronto region over the weekend.
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“Toronto Pearson saw extreme conditions two separate snowstorms on Thursday and Sunday,” Flint said. “We got more than 20 inches, 50 centimetres of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter.”
What caused the crash?
There was no immediate word by officials on what led to the incident, as the investigation is still in its early stages. The investigation is being led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Flint would not elaborate on the runaway and weather conditions on Monday saying she looks to the results of the “full and complete investigation.”
One regional airline pilot, who has flown the Bombardier CRJ noted that photos of the crashed jet showed its nose landing gear intact, while its two other wheels and landing gear appeared to have been sheared off.
Such damage suggested the Delta Air Lines pilot was going laterally, not straight, prior to losing control of the jet and crashing, either because of high, gusting winds, or snow and ice on runway, or dangerous a combination of both, the pilot suggested.
“It’s an easy plane to land, even with crosswinds, as long as you are within the manufacturer’s limitations,” said the regional airline pilot, who did not want to be named as he is employed in the industry.
“Maybe a broken wheel, or a frozen brake also occurred during the landing,” added the pilot, who cautioned about drawing any quick conclusions.
John Gradek, an aviation management professor at McGill University, told Global’s The Morning Show it was a “miracle nobody got killed.”
“When you walk away from a crash like this, count your lucky blessings,” he said.
Gradek said the crash could have been due to a lot of different factors such as winds, runway conditions, or mechanical issues with the airplane.
He added based on the new, clear video that emerged online “it looks like the aircraft hit the runway abnormally hard, landing gear failure in the back of the airplane was dragging on the runway. Sparks coming out, wing got clipped … and the aircraft flipped over on its ceiling.”
“Very unusual for an aircraft to do this, but there’s a myriad of circumstances,” Gradek said.
Expect delays at Pearson
Flint said there will be some operational impacts and delays at Toronto Pearson International Airport over the next few days as two runways are closed for the investigation.
Following the crash, Pearson airport shut down all operations for a couple hours but resumed flights at 5 p.m.
The delays come after an already huge backlog of hundreds of cancelled flights over the past few days from two major winter storms that hit the region.
Flint said 221 flights were cancelled on Thursday, 75 on Friday, another 937 flights cancelled on Saturday, and 371 more flights cancelled on Sunday. Monday was supposed to be an operational recovery day for Pearson airport but due in part to the accident, another 462 flights were cancelled.
“We are currently without use of our longest east-west and north-south runways,” Flint said, adding investigators are on site reviewing the aircraft on the runway for the next 48 hours.
“That is affecting the volume of traffic that we’re having. So, passengers should be looking and working with their airlines, checking our website for information on delays and potential cancellations as well for the next several days,” Flint said.
As of Tuesday, Pearson’s website showed multiple delays for flights.
The last major crash at Pearson was on Aug. 2, 2005, when an Airbus A340 landing from Paris skidded off the runway and burst into flames amid stormy weather. All 309 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 358 survived the crash.
Monday’s crash at Pearson airport was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past three weeks. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. And on Feb. 6, 10 people were killed in a plane crash in Alaska.
— With files from Motorcycle accident toronto today’ Aaron D’Andrea and The Canadian Press