Delta plane crash report released by Canada outlines moments before jet landed and flipped over in Toronto
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada released a preliminary report Thursday of their investigation into the Delta plane that took off from Minneapolis and flipped upside down and caught fire while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport.
CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave says the report outlines how the crew was battling winds up to 35 knots and landed hard without flaring the nose of the plane up to ease the landing. The plane then came down on the right main landing gear, which broke and retracted. The right wing fractured off from the body of the plane, releasing a cloud of jet fuel which caught on fire. TSB notes that investigators are still determining the exact sequence of events.
As the plane started to slide along the runway, it flipped, and the report says a portion of the tail became detached. After the 80 people on board the plane evacuated, emergency crews entered the plane. There was then an explosion on the outside of the aircraft near the left wing, the cause of which is yet to be determined.
TSB said preliminary data from the flight data recorder did not contain any caution or warning messages pertaining to the flight controls.
The report also did not note any mechanical irregularities with the airplane.
According to the investigation, the pilots were not able to open the cabin door after the crash and escaped through the emergency hatch in the ceiling. The hatch was close to the ground, as the plane was upside down, so the two escaped with the help of a passenger on the ground. As some of the passengers were evacuating the plane, some were covered in fuel and sprayed with fire retardant.
The first officer was flying the plane at the time of landing; the report says she had worked with Endeavor Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, since January of 2024. She had accumulated 1,422 hours of total flight time — just under 418 of those specifically on the CRJ, which was the type of plane involved in this incident — and was on the fifth day of a five-day work cycle. She had been on three round-trip flights into and out of Toronto Pearson in the 30 days before the crash.
The captain of the flight had worked for the company since October 2007, and works both as a flight crew member and simulator instructor. The report said he had accumulated 3,570 hours of total flight time.
The aircraft itself was manufactured in 2008, and according to the TSB, there were no obvious preexisting problems with the aircraft.
In an interview with "CBS Mornings" in the days following the crash, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian praised the crew of the flight, saying that "all these pilots train for these conditions."
"I want to express my deep appreciation and thanks for the crew on board the plane. Our Endeavor crew performed heroically, but also as expected. This is what we train for," Bastian said.
