Delta plane crashes and flips upside down at Toronto airport

Our live coverage of the plane crash in Toronto has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Advancements in aircraft design and seat safety prevented the Delta Air Lines plane crash in Toronto from being “much worse,” an aviation safety expert said Monday.

At least 18 people were injured in the crash at Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to authorities. The Delta Air Lines flight with 80 people on board from Minneapolis ended upside down on the runway, and one passenger described hanging “like bats” inside the aircraft after it crashed.

Soucie said the crash “could have been much worse,” drawing a comparison with a 1987 accident in Denver that killed 28 people when a DC-9 aircraft flipped over in similar circumstances.

Improved safety and stronger, more secure seats made the biggest difference in the two incidents, the analyst said.

Soucie also pointed out that in 1987, the wings stayed on the crashed aircraft, destroying it after it had flipped over.

In Toronto, however, the wings broke loose by design, “and that’s a good thing,” the analyst said.

Crews work around an upside down Delta Air Lines plane at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, on Monday.

Stiff winds blew over Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday afternoon as a slim aircraft, cleared by air traffic controllers to land, and its 80 passengers and crew drifted toward the snowy tarmac.

But within moments, the Bombardier CRJ900 had crashed into the runway and overturned, sending fire crews scrambling to extinguish the flames.

All on board the Delta flight from Minneapolis survived, but it is still unclear how the aircraft was upended, leaving it belly-up with at least 18 people injured — including a child who is reported to be in good condition.

Here’s what we know:

Toronto had been dealing with wind and snow:

Delta flight 4819 departed Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and approached its destination at Toronto Pearson International Airport shortly before 3 p.m. local time.

Strong winds had been buffeting Toronto all day and airport personnel had worked through the night to clear remnants of about 8 inches of snow that blanketed the airport over the weekend. As the plane neared the airport, air traffic controllers notified its pilots of about 38 mph wind gusts.

Within two minutes, the plane had flipped. Fire erupted as the aircraft tumbled, and the plane slammed into the runway, spitting out a huge fireball and leaving passengers hung aloft in their seats.

Passengers recount the crash:

Fire engines raced onto the tarmac and began spraying thick sheets of white fire retardant over the aircraft’s battered fuselage. It’s unclear where the fire started, but video shows the plane’s fiberglass frame had melted around the engine and thick black streaks stained its side.

After the aircraft came to a standstill, “we were upside down hanging like bats,” passenger Peter Koukov said. He was able to unbuckle himself and stand upright on the ceiling of the plane, but some people needed help getting down from their seats.

Flight attendants helped passengers crawl out of open exit doors, urging people to leave personal belongings behind, though some still exited with bags in tow, video from Koukov shows.

Canada’s busiest airport grinds to a halt:

The crash prompted Toronto Pearson International to temporarily shut down all five of its runways, causing delays and forcing several flights to divert to nearby airports. The remaining two runways where the crash took place will stay closed for several days as investigators analyze the scene.

The Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft that crashed in Toronto on Monday was built to take a hard hit upon landing, enabling the quick evacuation that saved the lives of all 80 people on board, an aviation analyst said.

A strong gust of wind hit the Delta Air Lines plane as it touched down, causing it to tip over and a wing to tear off, said Peter Goelz, a CNN aviation analyst and former National Transportation Safety Board managing director.

The impact caused a fire that was ignited in fuel cells located in the wing, Goelz said, adding that the plane’s tail was made to break off in the event of it flipping over.

Officials said earlier that 18 people were injured in the crash, which left seat-belted passengers suspended from their seats.

The analyst also praised the crew’s “extraordinary” response.

“People think that they’re just simply there to provide service, but the bulk of their training is an emergency service response, and this is the test, and they passed it with flying colors,” he said.

Goelz said he believes the investigation into the crash will be swift.

“The Transport Safety Board of Canada is skilled,” he said. “They’ll turn out a preliminary report in 30 days that I think will go a long way towards pointing to what happened.”

Pearson International Airport firefighters work on an upside down Delta Air Lines plane, which was heading from Minneapolis to Toronto when it crashed on the runway, in Toronto, on Monday.

Eighteen injured passengers were transported to local hospitals after a Delta Air Lines plane crashed while landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, the airport’s Fire Chief Todd Aitken said during a news conference on Monday.

Hours earlier, the Toronto Pearson Airport CEO Deborah Flint said there were 17 injuries after the dramatic crash.

Aitken, at his news briefing appeared to be updating her number, saying that “one additional passenger” was transported to a hospital.

While airport fire chief Todd Aitken said it wasn’t appropriate to comment on the investigation into the crash at Toronto Pearson Airport, he did give an update on the conditions of the runway.

Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken speaks at a news conference in Toronto on Monday.

Authorities are still investigating the crash at Toronto Pearson, the airport’s fire chief said during a brief news conference Monday night.

Neither Aitken nor Waheed Butt, superintendent at Peel Regional Police, who also made a brief statement, took questions from reporters, who expressed frustration with shouted questions about the lack of information about the crash.

Two runways at the airport would remain closed while officials investigate the crash, the airport’s CEO said earlier Monday.

This post was updated with more details from the news conference.

A passenger in the Toronto plane crash said “it’s amazing that we’re still here” after the plane turned upside down on the runway Monday.

John Nelson told CNN he wasn’t aware anything was wrong with the plane, calling it a typical flight between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Toronto, but said he did notice gusty winds and a lot of snow on the runway as they approached.

Nelson was in row 10 of the aircraft, seated in front of the wing. Once the plane stopped, Nelson said people started yelling to get out.

“It was mass chaos,” he said.

Nelson and his seatmate were hanging upside down when the plane came to a stop. They unbuckled themselves and landed on the ceiling of the aircraft before making a beeline for the door, the air smelling like jet fuel.

Pete Koukov, a passenger on the plane that crashed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, said that he “didn’t know anything was the matter” until they hit the ground — which he described as a pretty hard landing.

Koukov said he was able to unbuckle and push himself to the ground, and then walk out of the plane, but some others needed help getting down from their seats.

“Just feeling lucky and happy I got to give the person I didn’t know sitting next to me a big hug, that we were OK, and see my friends who are here to pick me up from the airport and give them a big hug,” he said.

A plane sits on its roof after crashing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday.

Two runways at Toronto Pearson International Airport will remain closed while officials investigate today’s crash, the CEO of the airport said Monday.

When the crash happened, the airport “immediately halted further arrivals and departures on our remaining three runways. Those have since been reopened, as of around 5 p.m. local time, Deborah Flint said.

The remaining two runways will stay closed while an investigation takes place for the “rest of tonight and into the next several days,” Flint said.

More context: Runway closures can impact the flow of traffic at the airport and sometimes lead to delays, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. For example, while a runway was closed at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, last month following a fatal midair collision, the FAA limited the number of arrivals, upping the average delay time from 40 minutes to 50 minutes.

This post has been updated with more context.

At least 17 Delta Air Lines passengers were injured in Monday’s crash landing at Toronto Pearson Airport and were taken to local hospitals, the airport President Deborah Flint said.

Delta had previously said that 18 customers were injured.

“At this time, we do not know of any of those passengers having critical injuries,” Flint said.

Earlier, the local paramedic service said two people were in critical condition and that none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

Flint added that 22 of the 76 passengers aboard the plane were Canadian. The others were from other countries.

Deborah Flint, the president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, speaks at a news conference in Toronto on Monday.

Deborah Flint, the president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, credited first responders and other trained personnel at the airport for there being no deaths after a plane crashed on the runway Monday afternoon.

“First and foremost, there was no loss of life and this is in due part to our heroic and trained professionals, our first responders at the airport,” Flint said at a news conference.

She said emergency workers at the airport “mounted a textbook response.” They reached the crash quickly and evacuated everyone from the plane, Flint said.

The CEO said the airport has put in place an “emergency operation center” consisting of personnel from Delta Air Lines, fire and police departments, paramedics, security and federal agency partners.

Flint gave a statement but did not take any questions at the news conference.

This post has been updated with additional comments from Flint.

Emergency personnel work at the scene of the plane crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday.

At least 18 Delta Air Lines passengers were injured and transported to hospitals after the crash landing in Toronto, Delta Air Lines said in a statement.

The airline also said it has canceled its flights to and from Toronto Pearson International Airport for the rest of the evening and has issued travel waivers.

Toronto’s Pearson International Airport will hold a media briefing at 6:30 p.m. ET on today’s crash, according to a post on X.

There were no fatalities after the Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis ended upside down on the airport runway, according to authorities. However, emergency services said 15 people were injured, including a child.

A Delta Air Lines plane heading from Minneapolis to Toronto crashed at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Monday.

More than a dozen people were injured after a plane crashed while landing Monday at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada. The Delta Air Lines Flight 4819 flight, operated by Endeavor Air, was coming from Minneapolis.

Though the plane ended upside down on the runway, no one was killed in the incident, according to the airport authority.

It is not yet known what caused the crash. The investigation will be managed by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Here’s what we know so far:

Toronto Pearson Airport is once again accepting traffic, the airport said in a statement on X.

Delta Airlines confirmed that the aircraft that crashed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport was carrying 80 people.

Given the CRJ900’s configuration on Delta flights, a count of 80 passengers and crew means the flight was full when it crashed, CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean said.

“Delta is working to connect with customers traveling from, to or through YYZ who should also monitor the status of their flight via the Fly Delta app,” Delta’s statement continued, using the airport’s IATA code to refer to Pearson.

“Several customers with injuries were transported to area hospitals. Our primary focus is taking care of those impacted,” it said.

A Delta Air Lines commuter plane arriving from Minneapolis has crashed at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, with images of the incident showing the aircraft flipped upside down.

Here’s a look at images from the scene after the plane crash:

A still from a video shows the plane, Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, upside down.

Emergency crews respond to the scene after the crash at Toronto Pearson Airport.

Emergency responders walk around the plane on a runway.

Damage to the plane is seen after the crash at Toronto Pearson Airport.

An emergency responder works near the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading a team of investigators in the United States to assist the Transportation Safety Board of Canada with the investigation into a Delta Air Lines plane that crashed on landing in Toronto.

The agency said per the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Annex 13, any information about the investigation will be released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

ICAO references 19 technical annexes to maintain uniformity in international civil aviation. Annex 13 outlines how accident investigation participation is determined.

According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on X, Federal Aviation Administration investigators are on their way to Toronto and the secretary has been in touch with his counterpart in Canada to offer assistance.

At least 15 people, including a child, were injured in the crash landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada’s CTV reported, citing the Peel Regional Paramedic Services.

Two people are in critical condition but none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, the paramedic service said.

There are no deaths, and all crew and passengers are accounted for, it said, according to CTV.