Pearson plane crash: Flights resume at Toronto airport after Delta plane flips on landing

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8:35 p.m.

Runway was dry at time of Delta plane landing, fire chief says

-Patrick White

GTAA Fire Chief Todd Aitken downplayed extreme weather as a factor on Monday evening.

“What we can say is that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions,” he said at a press conference.

Mr. Aitken confirmed that total of 18 passengers had been taken to area hospitals.

Passengers were already escaping the smoldering aircraft when his crews arrived on the scene, he said. “This is an active investigation, it’s really early on. It’s really important we do not speculate,” he said.

8:00 p.m.

A look at the CRJ900 plane, the model involved at Pearson and in Washington, D.C. fatal crash

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-Sean Silcoff

The CRJ900 plane that crashed at Toronto-Pearson International Airport comes from a family of Canadair Regional Jet, or CRJ, aircraft originally developed by Montreal’s Bombardier Inc. in the early 1990s. It is the second CRJ to be involved in a crash this year, after the fatal mid-air collision last month between a CRJ700 jet and a helicopter in Washington, D.C.

Bombardier got into the airplane business when it purchased Canadair, developer of the Challenger business jet, in 1986 from the Canadian government. Bombardier sold the CRJ program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020 as part of a divestiture program that also saw it sell the Montreal-based company sell the CSeries plane program (now the A220) to Airbus and its turbo propeller airliner division to De Havilland Canada.

The 36.2-metre-long CRJ900, powered by two GE engines, which has a range of 2,871 km, was unpopular when it was launched in the mid-2000s because of its long, narrow cabin. Some airline CEOs and aviation critics argued it was a stretch too far and that the jet would be too long and tunnel-like and turn off passengers.

But rising oil prices that decade led to a shift in demand to larger regional jets, and Bombardier tried to make some changes to the longer RJs, lowering the floor by 2.5 centimetres, raising the windows by 10 cm to let more light into the cabin and increasing the size of overhead bins to fit standard roll on bags. It also took out some seats on some models, reducing capacity to 75 passengers and calling the plane the CRJ705.

Bombardier even took journalists on a spin from one Montreal-area airport to another in one of the extended planes in mid-2006 (including me, at the time working for the National Post) as part of a charm offensive to prove the jet wasn’t as bad as critics said (in truth, it was about as good or bad as any other smaller-scale commercial airliner), and the company and Mitsubishi eventually delivered 487 of the planes.

The final CRJ900 to be made arrived at SkyWest Airlines in February 2021.

7:30 p.m.

22 Canadians on crashed Delta flight; Pearson expects delays over coming days

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- Patrick White and Pippa Norman

At an evening press conference held after the crash, Deborah Flint, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, declined to take any questions from the media but praised the airport’s response to the accident as “textbook.”

“We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” she said.

“No airport CEO wants to have these types of press conferences, but this is exactly what our emergency, our operations and our first responders partners are all practised and trained for,” she said. “This outcome is due in part to their heroic work. I thank them profusely.”

She noted there were 22 Canadians on board the flight, while the rest of the passengers were multinational.

Two runways where the accident took place will remain closed until the investigation concludes and delays at the airport are to be expected, she said.

6:40 p.m.

Earlier figure of 19 injured passengers was revised down to 15 by Peel Region Paramedic Services

- Sean Silcoff and Globe staff

Earlier reports said 19 people were injured in the plane crash, but Peel Regional Paramedic Services told The Globe and Mail the number was 15.

Supervisor Lawrence Saindon said three patients, including one child, with critical injuries were transported by the Ornge ambulance service to three Toronto area hospitals, while another 12 patients were taken to hospital by the Peel Regional Paramedic Services, all of whom “were walking wounded with minor, mild to moderate injuries.”

He explained the higher number inadvertently included family members who weren’t hurt but accompanied victims to hospital. Mr. Saindon further confirmed there were no fatalities and that all crew and passengers were accounted for.

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6:30 p.m.

Mayor of Minneapolis thanks Pearson emergency crews for quick response to the scene of crash

- Temur Durrani

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says he is working with his city’s airport to gather more information about the plane crash in Toronto.

“My thoughts are with those who have been injured and experienced this terrifying situation,” Mr. Frey said in a short statement to The Globe and Mail, provided by his communications director Ally Peters.

The Mayor has not been made privy yet to the circumstances that caused the crash, Ms. Peters added.

“Thank you to the emergency crews who responded quickly to the scene,” Mr. Frey wrote in the statement. “I’m in direct contact with our local airport officials as we continue to gather more information.”

6:13 p.m.

Some passengers bound for Toronto now in Ottawa

- Temur Durrani

Ottawa’s airport says 14 flights were diverted there while Pearson suspended its air traffic.

Although arrivals and departures have now resumed in Toronto, Ottawa International Airport said passengers from more than a dozen diverted flights remain in Canada’s capital.

“We are supporting the airlines and ground handlers, and have extra resources on hand in the event that any of the flights are deplaned and passengers require support,” Ottawa Airport Authority spokesperson Krista Kealey said in a statement.

“Aside from the flights to and from YYZ being affected, it’s a typical operation at YOW,” Ms. Kealey added, referring to the airport codes for Toronto and Ottawa respectively. “That includes residual delays and cancellations from the storm that impacted many cities in North America over the past several days.”

6:00 p.m.

Delta releases statement on crash

- Globe staff

In a statement on X, Delta said the incident occurred at 2:15 p.m., and that there were no fatalities but “18 customers with injuries” of 80 people on board.

It also indicated it has cancelled its flights to and from YYZ for the remainder of the evening and issued a travel waiver.

5:50 p.m.

Flights have resumed at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ)

- Temur Durrani

Pearson confirms that flights, halted immediately after the crash occurred, have resumed:

“Departures and arrivals have resumed at Toronto Pearson as of 5 p.m. All 76 passengers and four crew from Delta flight 4819 were accounted for. A number of passengers were taken to local hospitals. GTAA staff are supporting families of passengers at arrivals,” they wrote in a statement on social media.

5:42 p.m.

All crew and passengers accounted for, with no fatalities: paramedics

- Sean Silcoff

Peel Regional Paramedic Services supervisor Lawrence Saindon told The Globe and Mail that aside from the three patients transported by Ornge, another 12 patients were taken by hospital by the emergency service, all of whom “were walking wounded with minor, mild to moderate injuries.” He confirmed that there were no fatalities and that all crew and passengers were accounted for. Other than the child transported to Sick Kids, he said there were no other children among the injured.

5:30 p.m.

All three critically injured passengers taken to hospitals in Toronto

–Sean Silcoff

Ontario’s Ornge air ambulance service said it had transported three victims of the plane crash from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Toronto-area hospitals:

• A child was taken to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with critical injuries, in one of Ornge’s critical care land ambulances;
• A man in his 60s was transported by helicopter to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto with critical injuries; and
• A woman in her 40s with critical injuries was flown by helicopter to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

5:25 p.m.

Map: Flight path of Delta Air Lines Flight 4819

- Globe staff

5:20 p.m.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz reacts to the crash

- Temur Durrani

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says he has reached out to Delta Air Lines about the crash in Toronto.

“Grateful to the first responders and professionals on the scene,” he said in a short statement on social media.

His office has not responded to requests for any further comment on the matter.

5:15 p.m.

Update: At least 19 injured in plane crash, paramedics say

- Canadian Press

5:11 p.m.

Radio communications reveal moment of crash

- Eric Atkins

A recording of the radio transmissions between the control tower and the aircraft offers a glimpse of the moments shortly before and after. The air traffic controller can be heard guiding planes into the airport. “An airplane just crashed on 23,” a voice says, according to audio posted online by Live ATC.

“We just had a crash on runway 23 here,” the air traffic controller is heard saying shortly after. “The airport is closed.”

“We’ve got people walking around outside the aircraft,” one man says. “Yeah, the aircraft is upside down and burning,” comes the response.

The audio can be heard here. Communications begin at 9:13; Audio courtesy of Live ATC.

5:00 p.m.

Transportation safety board opening investigation into Monday’s plane crash

- Sean Silcoff

The Transportation Safety Board posted on X that it was deploying a team “to investigate an aircraft accident” at Pearson. “The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence.”

Meanwhile, Montreal-Trudeau Airport said it was preparing to receive several diverted flights but warned that given the large number of passengers at the airport “the situation may cause delays at various points along the passenger process.”

4:50 p.m.

Passenger recalls exact moment when her flight got held due to the crash

– Pippa Norman

Jenny Miles’ flight from Toronto to Vancouver was just about to leave its gate when she said news of the plane crash broke.

“We were about to leave when everything went quiet and then we got a message a couple of minutes later from the pilots saying that they’ve heard there’s an incident at the airport and it’s currently shut down,” she said.

It only took a couple of minutes of everyone jumping on their phones to browse social media before news of the crash spread. After about 45 minutes of sitting on the plane and receiving updates over the intercom, she said the pilot informed them no planes were going in or out and they would be let off the plane.

Without any idea when flights will be allowed to resume, she said she was one of many passengers sitting tight at the airport Monday evening, waiting for news.

4:45 p.m.

Delta Airlines plane was on its second flight of the day: FlightRadar24

- Eric Atkins

The CRJ900 was just ending its second flight of the day, according to FlightRadar24. On Monday morning, the plane flew to Minneapolis from Cleveland. On Sunday, it made six flights – a typical day – touching down in New York, Detroit, Toronto and Green Bay, Wisc., flight records show.

4:40 p.m.

Federal transportation minister Anita Anand ‘closely following’ incident at Pearson

- Globe staff

Politicians are responding to the crash, with Minister of Transport Anita Anand saying she’s “closely following” the incident.

Ms. Anand advised passengers travelling across Canada to check the status of their flight before arriving at their airports.

4:37 p.m.

Passenger in another plane taxiing on the runway at the time of crash recalls harrowing experience

- Chris Wilson-Smith

Amy Hersherhoren, co-owner of Toronto-based music promoter Collective Concerts, was on a plane taxiing for takeoff from Toronto to Los Angeles when she heard a crash.

“I felt and heard a tremendously loud jet engine noise and deep vibration,” she said. “There’s no mistaking it really.”

“I knew something had crashed because I saw the black smoke and I was convinced that it was a crash,” she said. The atmosphere turned anxious as passengers were left in the dark about the incident before being brought back to the airport. “Nobody knew what was going on,” she said.

In a phone interview after deplaning, Ms. Hersherhoren said the view from just outside the gate was “chaotic.

“There are just people everywhere,” she said. “It really just looks like people are concerned about catching connecting flights and it’s chaotic in terms of, you know, gate agents trying to find people’s best way home.”

Announcements about flight statuses were changing rapidly, she said. But Ms. Hersherhoren said she was planning on going home.

“I’m actually still trembling because the noise and the feeling that I heard, I knew something wasn’t right.”

4:30 p.m.

Premier Doug Ford says province will provide any help that’s needed

— The Canadian Press

Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford said on X he is “relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson.”

“Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any help that’s needed,” Mr. Ford said.

4:15 p.m.

Video of the crashed aircraft from passenger surfaced

– Pippa Norman and Ryan MacDonald

Passenger John Nelson posted a video of the Delta plane to Facebook, showing the aircraft upside down with some smoke visible and fire crews on site. “We’re in Toronto, we just landed,” he said in the video. “Our plane crashed.”

Later, in response to questions from friends, Mr. Nelson wrote: “I landed and was stuck upside down.” “It exploded shortly after the video.”

The aircraft is a Canadian-made Mitsubishi CRJ900, manufactured by Bombardier 16 years ago, according to FlightRadar24. A variant of the same model, a CRJ700 flown by American Airlines, collided with a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing 67 people.

3:30 p.m.

Critically injured child among the eight individuals reported injured in the crash

– Pippa Norman and Eric Atkins

A critically injured child is among multiple passengers hurt after a Delta Air Lines plane from Minneapolis crashed and flipped over on the tarmac at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Monday afternoon.

Ornge air ambulance said it was transporting one pediatric patient to Toronto’s SickKids hospital and two adults with critical injuries to other hospitals in the city.

The flight, Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, was on its way to Toronto from St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

All 80 people on board were evacuated and accounted for.

3:00 p.m.

Weather conditions were windy around the time of the crash

– Eric Atkins

Weather conditions around the time of the crash at Toronto Pearson were minus 9 degrees and windy, with blowing snow and gusts from the west of up to 64 kilometres an hour, according to Environment Canada. On Sunday, Toronto received a heavy snowfall.