The Delta Airlines flight turns on landing at Toronto Airport

By John Wawrow and Michael Casey, Associated Press

Toronto (AP) – A Delta Airlines aircraft turned upon when it arrived at Pearson airport in Toronto and ended up on its roof on Monday, injuring 17 people.

The airport has confirmed on X that a “incident” occurred with the Delta flight from Minneapolis and that 76 passengers and four crew members are recorded. The accident occurred around 2:15 p.m. and flights to the airport, which manages more passengers than any other Canadian airport, were put to the ground for about two and a half hours. Two tracks will remain closed during the investigation.

“We are very grateful that there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” said Deborah Flint, CEO of Greonto Toronto Airports Authority, to journalists.

The number of people injured was down in the first paramedical reports that 19 were injured.

The scene video shows the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR upside down on the snowy tarmac while emergency workers serve it. The plane was somewhat obscured by the snow of a winter storm that struck Toronto this weekend.

Ornge Air Ambulance said that she was carrying a pediatric patient to Sickids Hospital in Toronto and two adults injured in other hospitals in the city.

“The emergency teams respond,” said the airport in an article on the social platform X. “All passengers and crews are recorded.”

Tour controllers were heard about the crew of a medical helicopter who had just left Pearson and returned to help in the accident. The plane rested at the intersection of the tracks 23 and 15L, said the controller. It is not far from the start of the track.

“Just so that you know, there are people outside who walk on the plane there,” said a tower controller.

“Yeah, we have it. The plane is upside down and burns, ”replied the medical helicopter pilot.

It is too early to say what caused the aircraft, but time may have played a factor. According to Canada’s meteorological service, the airport experienced snow and 32 MPH (51 km / h) winds with ramp at 40 MPH (65 km / h). The temperature was around 16.5 degrees fahrenheit (minus 8.6 degrees Celsius).

“It is very rare to see something like that,” said John Cox, CEO of the air security consulting company Safety Operating Systems in Saint Petersburg, Florida. “We have seen some take -off cases where the planes ended up reverse, but it’s quite rare.”

Audio recording from the Toronto Pearson International Airport Tower shows that the flight was authorized to land around 2:10 p.m. local time. The tower warns the pilots of a possible air flow bump in the sliding path when the plane enters earth.

“It looks like a controller trying to be useful, which means that the wind will give you a riding walk, which you are going to get up and descend on the Glide path,” said Cox.

COX, who has stolen for US Air for 25 years and has worked on NTSB surveys, said that the CRJ-900 plane is a proven plane that has been in service for decades and does a good work to process bad weather.

“The weather conditions were windy. The wind was out of the west at 27 to 35 knots, about 38 miles per hour (61 km / h). So there was wind. But the planes are designed and certified to manage this. The pilots are trained and experienced to manage this. »»

Among the questions that must be answered, said Cox, which is why the plane lacked a right wing.

“If a wing is missing, it will tend to ride,” he said. “These will be central questions as to what has happened to the wing and the flight data recorder and the vocal recorder of the cockpit. They will be found, if not today, tomorrow, and the Transport Security Council of Canada will read them and they will have a very good understanding of what really happened here. »»

The last major accident in Pearson took place on August 2, 2005, when an Airbus A340 landing from Paris skidded the track and broke out in flames in the stormy time. Every 309 passengers and crews aboard the Air France 358 flight survived the accident.

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States said in a statement that the Transport Security Council of Canada would lead the investigation and provide updates. The National Transportation Safety Board said he was led a team of US investigators to help the Canadian investigation.

This is at least the fourth incident of major aviation in North America in the last month. A commercial jetliner and an army helicopter collided near the national capital on January 29, killing 67 people. A medical transport aircraft crashed in Philadelphia on January 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground and 10 were killed in a plane crash in Alaska.

Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said that he was “relieved that there were no victims after the incident at Toronto Pearson”. Toronto is the capital of Ontario. “Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any aid that is necessary,” said Ford.

Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, said in a statement that “the heart of the world’s world family Delta concerned people affected by today’s incident at Toronto-Pearson International Airport”.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was in contact with Delta about the accident.

Endeavor Air, based in Minneapolis, is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines and the world’s largest operator in CRJ-900 aircraft in the world. The airline operates 130 regional jets on 700 daily flights around 126 cities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company’s website.

The CRJ-900, a popular regional jet, was developed by the Canadian aerospace company Bombardier. It is in the same family of planes that the CRJ-700, the type of plane involved in the open-air collision near the Reagan national airport on January 29.

Casey reported to Concord, New Hampshire. Michael Sisak in New York, Jack Dura in Bismarck, Northern Dakota, Alex Veiga in Los Angeles and Jim Morris in Vancouver, British Columbia, contributed to the reports.

Originally published: February 17, 2025 at 12:47 pm PST