(Image via abcnews.go.com)
Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga
Email: abagga@umassd.edu
A Delta Airlines plane bound for Canada crash landed and flipped upside down at Toronto Airport in windy-snowy weather, injuring at least 18 passengers.
On Monday, February 17th, Delta-Endeavor Airlines flight DL4819, flying from Minneapolis to Toronto, flipped over on its roof while attempting to touch down at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 2:15 PM ET. The aircraft was carrying 76 passengers and four crew members.
While all the 80 onboard the aircraft survived, at least 18 passengers were initially reported to be injured in the crash.
The aircraft was a 16-year-old Bombardier CRJ-900 jet that seats up to 90 people. As a result of the rollover, both the aircraft’s wings caught fire and were completely destroyed.
On the day of the crash, Toronto saw high winds swirling at speeds that reached 40 mph (65kmph). As a result of the snowstorm a day before, the tarmac was icy and dumped with snow piling to at least 8.6 inches.
The 86-minute flight from Minneapolis to Toronto turned into a tragedy at the intersection near runway 15L and 23 of the Toronto airport.
John Nelson, a passenger traveling on that Delta flight, said, “We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down.” He added, “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.”
Aviation experts speculate windy and snowy conditions as the primary reason for the crash.
Three passengers, including a child, a 40-year-old woman, and a 60-year-old man, were seriously injured in the crash. Others suffered back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, and headaches.\
As mentioned by Delta in a press release, all the injured have been released from hospital at this time.
U.S. Aviation Safety Expert and Pilot John Cox said that there was an average crosswind of 19 knots (22 mph) from the right as it was landing, but he noted this was an average, and gusts would go up and down.
Cox added, “It’s gusty so they are constantly going to have to be making adjustments in the airspeed, adjustments in the vertical profile and adjustments in the lateral profile. It’s normal for what professional pilots do.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has recovered the black box recorder from the airplane and has launched an official inquiry to determine the cause of this fatal crash. The runways 15L and 23 have been closed for further investigation.
Regarding the incident, Delta Airways CEO Ed Bastian said, “Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved.”
Ed added, “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
Delta is offering payouts of $30,000 to all passengers traveling on the aircraft. Two passengers have already filed federal lawsuits alleging negligence on Delta’s part.
This incident is North America’s fourth major aviation crash in the last three weeks. 67 people were killed when an army helicopter and a commercial jet airliner collided midair in the Washington D.C. airspace on January 29th.
On January 31st, six people were killed after a medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia. Ten were killed when an airplane crashed in Alaska on February 6th.
In another incident involving Delta Airlines, passengers of a flight from Atlanta to Columbia, South Carolina, were forced to evacuate at Atlanta airport after smoke was reported inside the cabin of the aircraft. The airplane was ferrying 99 people, including the passengers and the crew.