As investigators piece together how Delta Air Lines Connection Flight 4819 crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, experts are pointing to weather, runway conditions and piloting as potential factors.
Delta Flight 4819 hit the ground “hard,” which could cause parts of landing gear to shear off
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is leading the inquiry into how the plane crash-landed in Toronto on Monday afternoon.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 18, 2025 at 6:33PM
The flight, which left Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport around 11:34 a.m. and was operated by Endeavor Air, carried 76 passengers and four crewmembers. No fatalities were reported in the fiery crash, but 21 people were transported to area hospitals for medical treatment.
Delta said in a statement that 19 of them had been released from the hospital as of Tuesday morning.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement.
Weather conditions will be under close scrutiny in the crash investigation. At Toronto Pearson on Monday there were wind gusts up to 40 mph with chances of snowfall, according to AccuWeather.
The plane that crashed is a CRJ-900, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the crash investigation.
The federal National Transportation Safety Board, which handles U.S. transportation disasters, has sent a team to assist. Typically the agency tries to complete an investigation within two years. The NTSB has said all information about the crash investigation will come from Canadian authorities.
Les Abend, a retired American Airlines pilot, told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Tuesday the experience of the crew will be a consideration.
Abend, who cautioned his analysis was speculative and based on early information, said the signs of the crash point to what pilots call landing “in a crab,” a reference to the position of the aircraft at the time the wheels touch the ground. The plane appeared to hit the ground hard, he said, which in the wrong position can cause parts of the landing gear to shear off.
“It takes some real pilot stuff to get this airplane down in a crosswind,” Abend said.
Abend added the plane may have landed in slippery conditions that changed quickly, though modern airplanes are equipped with anti-skid technology to prevent crashes in those situations.
Investigators looking at the crash will consider myriad factors, Abend added, from the interviews with passengers and flight attendants down to how much sleep crewmembers got the night before. Other conditions that will be considered, he said, include directions from air traffic control, digital flight data, voice recordings from the cockpit and how much general experience crewmembers have.
“I guarantee you, there won’t be one probable cause factor, there’ll be numerous factors involved,” Abend said.
J.F. Joseph, who runs Joseph Aviation Consulting, said it’s too early to speculate on exactly what caused the crash, but the weather will be investigated as an important factor.
“Maneuvering crosswinds can be challenging,” Joseph told the Minnesota Star Tribune, noting conditions 500 feet above the runway can be dramatically different than those on the ground. “No two crosswinds are alike; they are dynamic. That presents additional challenges to the pilot.”
Videos of the crash shared on social media showed terrified passengers suspended in their seats, on the ceiling, and then being ushered out the airplane door by crewmembers.
In another, which captures the full landing, the right wing of the plane appears to touch the ground, shear off, as the fuselage rotates 180 degrees. The airplane’s other wing and tail are torn off and flames roll out from while losing its other wing and tail and becomes engulfed in flames.
The flight was operated by Delta’s wholly owned subsidiary Endeavor Air, which handles regional connection flights. Endeavor is headquartered in Minneapolis.
Bastain said the company will continue to support its customers and crew members.
“We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them,” Bastain said. “We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
Delta was offering a travel waiver for customers scheduled to fly into Toronto through Feb. 20.
As the investigation being headed up by the Canadian agency began, Delta was sending its own incident response team Monday evening. Those employees specialize in customer care and support.
As the company resumed air travel to Toronto on Tuesday, Delta was using bigger airplanes “to allow for greater arrival and departure capacity,” according to the company’s statement.
This report will be updated.
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