Toronto plane crash outcome a ‘miracle’: experts

Several things went right when a passenger jet landing at a wintry Toronto airport lost its wings and flipped over with no loss of life, according to aviation experts reviewing preliminary information.

Investigators will try to sort out what happened to the Delta Airlines CRJ-900 as it arrived from Minneapolis and touched down at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 2:15 p.m. It’s possible the plane bounced and pilots lost control, said Greg Feith, former senior air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

“The good thing is … both the wings were shed,” he said. “That usually takes up a lot of the major impact forces. And because the tube, the fuselage tube, stayed intact, that’s what enhanced the survivability for all these people, even though there was a small fire that did break out.”

The integrity of the fuselage is a testament to advances in airplane engineering, Feith added.

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons from history,” he said.

Also probably helping the outcome was that jet fuel was dispersed when the wings detached, Feith noted. He praised passengers and the flight crew for the orderly evacuation of the upside-down aircraft.

The fact that all 80 people aboard the plane survived is amazing, retired commercial pilots Michael Coffield and Richard Levy agreed. Both nodded their heads vigorously and said, “Miracle.”