A Delta Airways airplane flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and ended up on its roof Monday, injuring 19 individuals together with three who’re in crucial situation.
The airport confirmed on X that an “incident” occurred with the Delta flight from Minneapolis and that 76 passengers and 4 crew are accounted for. Delta mentioned in a press release the accident occurred at 3:30 p.m.
Video from the scene exhibits the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR the wrong way up on the snowy tarmac as emergency employees hose it down. The airplane was considerably obscured by snow from a winter storm that hit Toronto over the weekend.
Ornge air ambulance mentioned it was transporting one pediatric affected person to Toronto’s SickKids hospital and two adults with crucial accidents to different hospitals within the metropolis.
“Emergency teams are responding,” the airport mentioned in a submit on the social platform X. “All passengers and crew are accounted for.”
It’s too early to say what brought on the airplane to flip however climate could have performed an element. In accordance with the Meteorological Service of Canada, the airport was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 32 mph gusting to 40 mph. The temperature was about 16.5 levels.
“It’s very rare to see something like this,” mentioned John Cox, CEO of aviation security consulting agency Security Working Programs in St. Petersburg, Fla. “We’ve seen a couple of cases of takeoffs where airplanes have ended up inverted, but it’s pretty rare.”
Cox, who flew for U.S. Air for 25 years and has labored on NTSB investigations, mentioned the CRJ900 plane is a confirmed plane that’s been in service for many years and does a superb job of dealing with inclement climate.
“The weather conditions were windy. The wind was out of the west at 27 to 35 knots, which is about 38 miles an hour. So it was windy. But the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that. The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration mentioned in a press release that the Transportation Security Board of Canada would head up the investigation and supply any updates. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned it’s main a crew of U.S. investigators to help within the Canadian investigation.
It’s no less than the fourth main aviation mishap in North America prior to now month. A industrial jetliner and an Military helicopter collided close to the nation’s capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 individuals. A medical transportation airplane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six individuals on board and one other particular person on the bottom and 10 had been killed in a airplane crash in Alaska.
Delta mentioned in a press release that “initial reports were that there are no fatalities.”
“Several customers with injuries were transported to area hospitals. Our primary focus is taking care of those impacted,” the airline added.
Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford mentioned on X he’s “relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson.” Toronto is the capital of Ontario.
