Delta Jet Overturns Upon Landing in Toronto, Injuring 18

Delta Air Lines Plane Crashing Upside Down In Canada

• Three individuals critically hurt, including a child
• Footage captures aircraft upside down on snowy runway
• Toronto faced severe winds and winter storm conditions

A Delta Air Lines regional jet overturned after landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday amid strong winds and residual snowfall, leaving 18 of the 80 passengers injured, officials confirmed.

Among those seriously hurt was a child, according to Canadian air ambulance authorities. The three critically injured individuals, along with 15 others, were transported to local hospitals. Delta later stated that some of the injured passengers had already been released.

The aircraft involved was a CRJ900, operated by Delta’s subsidiary, Endeavor Air. With a seating capacity of 90, the 16-year-old jet was manufactured by Bombardier and powered by GE Aerospace engines. Post-incident footage revealed that at least one wing had detached from the fuselage.

Canadian officials have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, which remains undetermined.

Passenger John Nelson shared a video of the scene on Facebook, depicting emergency responders spraying water on the overturned plane. Speaking to CNN, he recalled no warning signs before the landing.

''We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down,'' Nelson recounted. ''I was able to just unbuckle and sort of fall and push myself to the ground. And then some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down, and others were able to get down on their own.''

Toronto Pearson Airport had been battling harsh winter conditions, with over 22 cm (8.6 inches) of snow accumulating over the weekend. High winds and freezing temperatures disrupted flight schedules.

Data from FlightRadar24 indicated that Delta flight DL4819 from Minneapolis-St. Paul landed at 2:13 p.m. (1913 GMT) and came to a stop near the intersection of runway 23 and runway 15. The recorded weather conditions at the time of impact included gusting crosswinds and blowing snow.

Toronto Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken stated that the runway was dry and that no crosswind conditions were present. However, several pilots who reviewed footage of the accident disagreed.

U.S. aviation safety expert and pilot John Cox observed that the landing involved an average crosswind of 19 knots (22 mph) from the right. ''It's gusty, so they are constantly going to have to be making adjustments in the air speed, adjustments in the vertical profile, and adjustments in the lateral profile,'' he explained. Cox added that investigators would seek to determine why the right wing detached upon landing.

Michael J. McCormick, an associate professor of air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, remarked that while an aircraft flipping upside down on landing is unusual, the survival of all 80 passengers demonstrates significant advancements in aviation safety.

''But the fact that 80 people survived an event like this is a testament to the engineering and the technology, the regulatory background that would go into creating a system where somebody can actually survive something that not too long ago would have been fatal,'' McCormick noted.

Historically, similar incidents have occurred with McDonnell Douglas’s MD-11 model. Notably, a FedEx cargo jet overturned upon landing in Tokyo in 2009, killing both pilots. Other cases include a China Airlines flight in Hong Kong in 1999, which resulted in three fatalities, and a 1997 FedEx freighter accident in Newark that fortunately caused no loss of life.

While flights have resumed at Toronto Pearson, airport president Deborah Flint warned that ongoing investigations would cause disruptions, with two runways remaining closed temporarily.

She credited first responders for their swift action in preventing any fatalities.

''We are very grateful that there is no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,'' Flint stated during a press conference.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has deployed investigators, with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board assisting. International aviation protocols require a preliminary report within 30 days.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which acquired Bombardier’s CRJ aircraft program in 2020, acknowledged the incident and pledged full cooperation with investigators.

This accident comes in the wake of several recent North American aviation disasters, including a fatal Army helicopter and CRJ-700 passenger jet collision in Washington, D.C., as well as deadly crashes involving a medical transport plane in Philadelphia and a passenger aircraft in Alaska.