Officials will examine several factors — including windy weather — that could have caused Delta plane to crash and flip: experts
Officials investigating how a Delta plane flipped upside down after touching down at Toronto Pearson International Airport Monday will examine several factors – including if treacherous weather played a factor, aviation experts said.
The rare crash landing – in which all 80 people onboard fortunately survived – happened as the Canadian airport was dealing with blowing snow and winds that reached 32 mph and gusts of 40 mph.
Aviation specialist Scott Hamilton told Newsweek that winter conditions and their effect on the plane will be scrutinized during the inquiry. He also said approach speeds, thruster viability, and breaking anomalies can also cause flipping.
“Looking at the videos [of the crash], there looks like there was also a lot of wind out there,” said Hamilton, who is the managing director for the aviation company Leeham Company.
“Investigators … will look at whether there was a wind shear. A wind shear refers to a sudden change in wind speed and/or direction.”
While he additionally told Seattle-based KING 5 that officials will be looking into runway conditions, including if there were any ice spots, airport fire chief Todd Aitken said during a press conference Monday evening that the landing strip was dry.
Aitken also insisted there were no cross-wind conditions during the landing, but pilots who viewed footage of the incident and spoke to Reuters questioned that assertion.
The CEO of a Florida-based aviation safety consulting firm, John Cox, told the outlet there was an average crosswind of 22 mph from the right while the plane was landing, but he noted gusts can go up and down.
Cox told the Associated Press that a belly-up plane wreck is “very rare” to see.
The CRJ-900 aircraft involved is a typically reliable plane that can handle inclement weather, he added.
“The weather conditions were windy,” said Cox, who has been involved in National Transportation Safety Board inquiries.
“The wind was out of the west at 27 to 35 knots, which is about 38 miles an hour (61 kph). So it was windy. But the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that. The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that,” he said.
Cox noted investigators will need to determine why the plane’s right wing separated from the aircraft and will have a better grasp on what caused the accident after collecting all data.
“If one wing is missing, it’s going to have a tendency to roll over,” he said.
“Those are going to be central questions as to what happened to the wing and the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
“They will be found, if not today, tomorrow, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will read them out and they will have a very good understanding of what actually occurred here.”
Audio recording from the tower at the airport showed the flight was approved to land around 2:10 p.m. The tower warned the pilots of a possible air flow “bump” in the glide path as the plane descended onto the runway, according to the audio.
At least 17 people on the flight were injured out of the 76 passengers and four crew members on the commercial flight.
With Post wires
