A Delta Air Lines plane overturned upon landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Monday, leaving all 80 individuals on board unharmed, according to the airport’s chief executive. Minor injuries were reported among those who were hurt.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m. as a flight from Minneapolis attempted to land amidst gusty winds reaching 40 mph (65 kph). While communications between the control tower and the pilots were reported as normal during the approach, the cause of the mishap remained unclear once the aircraft touched down.
One passenger, Peter Carlson, who traveled to Toronto for a paramedics conference, described the landing as “very forceful.” He recounted, “Suddenly, everything seemed to go sideways, and in the next instant, I was upside down while still strapped in.”
Canadian officials conducted two short press conferences, but no further details about the incident were disclosed. Social media footage captured the scene, showing the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR aircraft upside down, with the fuselage remaining largely intact, while emergency responders extinguished flames as passengers exited the plane and made their way across the tarmac.
Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, expressed her relief that there was no loss of life and that injuries were relatively minor. Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, shared his sentiments, saying, “Our thoughts are with those affected.”
Fire Chief Todd Aitken reported that 18 passengers were transported to local hospitals. Earlier, an air ambulance service mentioned transferring one child to Toronto’s SickKids hospital and two injured adults to other medical facilities in the area.
Emergency crews promptly arrived at the scene, and Aitken confirmed that the response was executed according to plan. He noted that the runway conditions were dry, and there were no crosswinds reported.
The incident marked the fourth significant aviation accident in North America in just three weeks, which included a tragic mid-air collision near Washington, D.C., resulting in 67 fatalities, another crash in Philadelphia that took six lives, and a fatal accident in Alaska that claimed ten lives.
The last major incident at Pearson Airport occurred on August 2, 2005, when an Airbus A340 from Paris skidded off the runway and caught fire due to severe weather, although all aboard survived.
On the day of the incident, conditions at Toronto Pearson included blowing snow and wind gusts between 32 mph (51 kph) and 40 mph (65 kph), with temperatures around 16.5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8.6 degrees Celsius). The Delta flight received clearance to land shortly before 2:10 p.m., and audio recordings indicated that the control tower cautioned the pilots about potential turbulence during their descent.
John Cox, CEO of an aviation safety consulting firm, explained that the controller’s advisement was intended to prepare the pilots for a bumpy landing due to windy conditions, adding that aircraft are designed to manage such challenges and that trained pilots are equipped to deal with it.
The aircraft came to a halt at the intersection of two runways, not far from the start of the landing strip. Shortly after the incident, the control tower informed a medical helicopter that had just departed and was returning to render assistance, alerting them that people were seen moving around the aircraft.
Carlson, who managed to exit the plane, shared a harrowing account of his experience, explaining that after unbuckling his seatbelt, he fell onto what used to be the ceiling. Detecting a smell of gas and seeing aviation fuel streaming down the cabin windows, he instinctively sought to assist others in need. He and another passenger helped a mother and her young son escape from the aircraft before he finally made it to the cold tarmac.
Despite the frigid conditions, Carlson noted that the urgency to escape the plane outweighed his concerns about the weather, saying, “We all just wanted to be out of the aircraft.”
Cox mentioned that the CRJ-900 is a reliable aircraft known for its performance in adverse conditions, noting that it is uncommon for a plane to end up inverted. He emphasized the importance of understanding why the plane was missing its right wing, which would have contributed to the aircraft flipping over.
Investigators will focus on retrieving the flight data and cockpit voice recorders to gain insight into the circumstances surrounding the event. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will lead the investigation with collaboration from the National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S.
Endeavor Air, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines based in Minneapolis, operates the CRJ-900 and is the largest operator of this aircraft type globally, maintaining a fleet of 130 regional jets servicing numerous daily flights across North America and the Caribbean.
The CRJ-900 was developed by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace and is part of the family of aircraft that includes the CRJ-700, which was involved in the collision near Washington, D.C.
