What we know so far about the plane crash at Pearson airport and what comes next

A Delta Airlines plane with 80 people on board crashed on the tarmac at Pearson airport on Monday.

Officials with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority have said that a total of 18 people were injured as a result, though none of those injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

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Operations resumed at the airport as of 5 p.m. on Monday, but two runways will remain closed to accommodate what is expected to be a lengthy investigation, with officials warning of residual flight delays.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), meanwhile, says it has deployed a team to investigate the accident.

Here is what you need to know:

What aviation experts are saying

Speaking to CP24 Monday, CTV News Aviation Specialist Phyl Durdey said while it’s not exactly clear what led to the crash, wind could be a factor.

“The winds at the time were around 27 knots (50 kilometres per hour), gusting to 35 knots (65 km/h) with a little bit of a crosswind,” he said.

Durdey said despite high winds, pilots are trained to deal with those conditions and would be fully prepared.

“As they were coming down into the area, they would have turned on the automatic information system which gives them [information about] the weather, the winds and their direction, the visibility, and the runway conditions. That allows them to know how they’re going to land, what they’re going to do, and go through every possibility, so when they do come down, they know what to expect.”

Delta says flight 4819 was being operated by Endeavor Air with a CRJ-900 aircraft. That specific type of aircraft was launched in 2001 by Bombardier.

An accident catalogue for the aircraft from Aviation Safety Network shows zero fatalities from more than 100 accidents since 2005.

But aviation experts say despite its age, the CRJ-900 is very reliable and operated exactly how it should have.

“This is a very well-built airplane,” Aviation Expert John Cox told CP24. “It was certified to high standards both in its structural strength and ability to get people out in a hurry. So, this was a well-built airplane experiencing a very traumatic event and the emergency evacuation design and certification worked exactly as it should have.”

Aviation Accident Investigator Steve Green agreed.

“When you look at the airplane upside down like that and see how few injuries there were, that really speaks volumes to all the work that’s done to improve cabin and passenger safety,” he said when speaking with CP24.

“Airplanes can fly pretty much indefinitely depending on the maintenance, so as long as they’re maintained well, flying on an [older] aircraft is not out of the norm,” added Durdey.

What the TSB investigation will be looking for

So, what will the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) be looking for in their investigation?

According to Daniel Gustin, Chief Instructor with Canadian Flight Trainers, contamination on the runway could be something investigators look into.

“Any contamination that is present on the runway is going to decrease things like the performance of the aircraft, the stopping ability, the directional control of the airplane, where the runway centreline can be maintained.”

“It looks like the Greater Toronto Airports Authority had things fairly under control. There were aircraft taking off and landing using that runway in the hours leading up to the accident. But the handling of the aircraft, the runway conditions, the weather will all be called into question [even though] winds and airport conditions were fairly consistent.”

Green echoed Gustin’s comments and said that it appeared as though nothing about the operations at Pearson on Monday were out of the ordinary.

“I’m sure there are going to be a lot of factors involved. The weather appeared to be within the confines of what the airplane can manage – it’s not particularly abnormal. But they’ll be looking hard at things like wind shear, icing conditions, blowing snow, and visibility issues.”

“I do think [Pearson] does a pretty good job of maintaining their runway,” Green added. “They would not have been accepting landings on it if they felt there was a concern about the condition of the surface.”

‘To have an aircraft inverted on a runway is unheard of’

While all the experts CP24 spoke to agreed that conditions likely played a role in the accident at Pearson Monday, most were still incredulous as to exactly how it happened.

“It’s incredibly unbelievable that an accident like this can happen at all,” Gustin said. “We have no idea how something like this can happen. To have an aircraft inverted on a runway is unheard of, especially in Canadian aviation. It’s something that’s very hard to do intentionally let alone by accident.”

“It’s a miracle that there was nobody seriously injured,” concluded Durdey.