Mystery surrounds the final moments of a plane that bounced on a runway and landed on its roof, with all 80 people on board walking away, with only minor injuries suffered.
The Delta Air Lines flight was cleared to land at Toronto Pearson Airport after arriving from Minneapolis. On its final approach the control tower warned of an air flow “bump”, moments before it touched down and suddenly flipped upside down.
Incredibly, the only casualty of the accident was the plane itself as it lost both wings, as all 76 passengers and four crew members survived. One theory has been shared on what happened to cause the flight to land belly-up on the runway and allow all those on board to survive.
Michael Woods wrote: “DL4819 flight path compared to a previous plane’s path. It appears the Endeavor flight was higher than normal and in the last data point from ADSB just sank out of the sky at over a 1,000 ft/min. They then bounced, likely cartwheeled, and ended up on its back. This is my opinion, I am not an expert, and I could be wrong.”
In a later update, he shared: “Point of clarification around DL4819 speed at landing: it has as high as 30 kt direct headwind component so its ground speed would show much lower than normal but its indicated airspeed would be fine. This lower ground speed is an important factor in why everyone survived.”
John Cox, CEO of aviation safety consulting firm Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida, added: “It sounds to me like a controller trying to be helpful, meaning the wind is going to give you a bumpy ride coming down, you’re going to be up and down through the glide path. So it was windy.
“But the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that. The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that.”
An investigation is now beginning into what happened and there is plenty of speculation about the condition of the runway due to the weather conditions. Meteorologists say that there was blowing snow in Toronto and visibility was down to six miles at the time of the incident, with winds at 20 mph and gusts up to 37 mph. Temperatures were well below freezing, at -8C.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said: “The hearts of the entire global Delta family are with those affected by today’s incident at Toronto-Pearson International Airport. I want to express my thanks to the many Delta and Endeavor team members and the first responders on site.
“We are working to confirm the details and will share the most current information as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, please take care and stay safe.”
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