Delta jet crash investigators have released a preliminary report that sheds light on the dramatic February 17 runway accident at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The flight, operated by Endeavor Air, a regional carrier for Delta Air Lines, was carrying 80 people from Minneapolis when it landed hard, flipped, burst into flames, and came to a rest upside down.
The report reveals that the Delta jet was descending far too rapidly in the seconds before touchdown. According to Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), the aircraft was dropping at 1,100 feet per minute—nearly twice the threshold for what’s considered a “hard landing” under Endeavor Air’s own flight operations manual. The manual defines anything over 600 feet per minute as a hard landing.
Just before impact, an automated warning system alerted the crew about the dangerous descent rate. Moments later, the right landing gear failed under the excessive stress. The jet rolled onto its right side, skidded down the runway, lost a wing, caught fire, and came to a halt completely inverted.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, said, “It was descending much too fast. It’s possible that the rate of descent was so great that it exceeded the design stress limits of that landing gear.”
Surprisingly, all 80 people on board—76 passengers and four crew members—survived. Many passengers were left hanging upside down, held by their seatbelts as the cabin filled with smoke. Emergency crews rushed to the scene, and everyone was evacuated before a later explosion erupted near the left wing of the empty plane.
The report does not assign blame but provides insight into several contributing factors. The Bombardier CRJ 900 aircraft was flying into windy conditions, and a sudden gust just 15 seconds before landing caused the plane’s airspeed to rise. In response, the pilot reduced engine thrust—a standard procedure—but the descent rate continued to increase.
Just under three seconds before touchdown, a cockpit alert signaled that the jet was falling too quickly. The nose was pointed upward at only a one-degree angle, while the recommended pitch for landing is between three and eight degrees. That flat nose angle, combined with the high descent rate, may have compounded the force of the landing and led to the right landing gear’s collapse.
Ben Berman, a former pilot and crash investigator, called the final moments “very difficult.” He added, “Everything went to hell in the last seconds.”
While the captain was a seasoned simulator instructor with years of experience on this aircraft type, the first officer flying the plane had only 420 flight hours in the CRJ 900. Aviation experts noted that such experience levels are not unusual for pilots at smaller regional airlines like Endeavor.
Though no fatalities occurred, at least 21 people were injured, and some have since taken legal action. Several lawsuits have been filed in the United States, and Vincent Genova, a Toronto-based lawyer, reported that his firm is representing 12 Canadian passengers.
In a notable move, Delta Air Lines offered each passenger $30,000 just two days after the crash, describing the compensation as having “no strings attached.”
The TSB emphasized that the investigation is ongoing. Yoan Marier, chairman of the board, stated in a video briefing, “Accidents and incidents rarely stem from a single cause.” This hints that future updates may delve deeper into crew decisions, aircraft maintenance records, and weather data.
The aircraft itself—a CRJ 900 made by Bombardier—is widely used for short-haul flights across North America. While generally reliable, this incident raises fresh questions about its performance during landings in rough weather and the thresholds that trigger mechanical failure.
For now, the findings serve as a reminder of how quickly routine flights can spiral into emergency situations. The fact that all passengers survived such a violent crash underscores both the resilience of aircraft design and the effectiveness of safety procedures.
As the full investigation continues, travelers and the aviation industry alike await more answers. Until then, the harrowing moments aboard that Delta jet remain a sobering lesson in how every second counts in the air.
