(NewsNation) — All 80 passengers and crew members on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto that crashed and overturned while landing are expected to survive.
Air traffic control audio was released Monday, capturing the moment officials realized Delta Flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air, was burning on the tarmac of Toronto's Pearson Airport.
"This airplane just crashed. We just have a crash on Runway 23 here," someone can be heard saying at around 2:15 p.m. ET.
"Just so you are aware, there's people outside walking around the aircraft there," someone says moments later.
"Yeah, we've got it," someone responds. "The aircraft there's upside down and burning."
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is assisting Canada’s Transportation Safety Board to investigate how the CRJ-900 overturned as it arrived from Minneapolis and touched down in Toronto.
Two runways will remain closed for the investigation.
It is possible the plane bounced, causing pilots to lose control, said Greg Feith, former senior air safety investigator for the 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.”
'I'm upside down still strapped in': Delta passenger
Peter Carlson, a passenger traveling to Toronto for a paramedics conference, said the landing was “very forceful.”
“All the sudden, everything just kind of went sideways, and then next thing I know, it’s kind of a blink and I’m upside down still strapped in,” he told CBC News. "Everyone on that plane suddenly became very close in terms of how to help one another, how to console one another."
Carlson said when he took off his seat belt, he crashed into the ceiling of the plane. He smelled gas and saw aviation fuel cascading down the cabin windows and knew he needed to get out, but he said his fatherly intuition and paramedic skills kicked in. He looked for those he could help.
Carlson and another man assisted a mother and her young son out of the plane, and then Carlson dropped onto the tarmac. Snow was blowing, and it “felt like I was stepping onto tundra.”
“I didn’t care how cold it was, didn’t care how far I had to walk, how long I had to stand — all of us just wanted to be out of the aircraft,” he said.
How many people were injured in the Delta plane crash?
The airport said all 76 passengers and four crew members were accounted for. Of those on board, 22 were Canadian, Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said during Tuesday's news conference.
Officials said 21 passengers were initially transported to a local area hospital or trauma center, including a man 60s and a woman in her 40s. A pediatric patient was taken to a children’s hospital.
Upon arrival, crews faced a multitude of injuries, including people suffering from:
- Back sprains
- Head injuries
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting due to fuel exposure
All but two of the passengers who were injured during the crash have been released, Floyd said. There were no fatalities. 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.”
What was the weather at the time of the Delta plane crash?
At the time of the crash, weather reports showed Toronto experienced 31 mph winds with gusts upward of 40 mph, and a temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of -5 .
On Monday, the airport said on social media it expected around 1,000 flights to be delayed as airlines worked to catch up from delays caused by snow over the weekend.
Toronto Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken confirmed the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside and Michael Ramsey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.