On 17 February 2025, a Delta Connection regional jet crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, flipped upside down, lost its tail and right wing, and caught fire — yet all 80 people on board walked away alive. The accident, involving a Bombardier CRJ900 operated by Endeavor Air on a flight from Minneapolis, is being studied around the world as a remarkable example of aircraft design and crew action saving every life in what could easily have been a fatal crash.
The aircraft touched down on Runway 23 at 2:13 p.m. in difficult winter conditions, with strong crosswinds gusting to 64 kilometres per hour and blowing snow. The approach speed was slightly below the recommended value, and the aircraft struck the runway with a descent rate of approximately 1,100 feet per minute — well above the 720 feet per minute that the landing gear was designed to absorb. The right main landing gear collapsed on impact. The aircraft veered sharply to the right, the tail separated from the fuselage, and the right wing broke away, spilling jet fuel that immediately caught fire. The aircraft came to a stop on the grass beside the runway, upside down, facing the direction it had come from.
Despite the severity of the damage, the fuselage held together well enough for passengers to escape. With the aircraft inverted, the cabin was upside down but mostly intact. Flight attendants directed passengers towards the two emergency exits that remained accessible — one at the front and one at the rear. The two pilots could not open the cockpit door because the deformed fuselage had jammed it shut. They escaped through the emergency hatch in the cockpit ceiling, which, with the aircraft inverted, was now near ground level. A passenger helped pull them out.
In total, 21 of the 80 people on board were injured, including three who were critically hurt. All 21 were discharged from hospital within four days. Delta Air Lines subsequently offered each passenger $30,000 in compensation with no conditions attached.
Aviation safety experts noted that the aircraft’s survival was partly the result of deliberate engineering decisions. The CRJ900’s tail and wing were designed to separate cleanly under extreme stress, absorbing energy and preventing the aircraft from breaking apart in a way that would have been far more dangerous for the occupants. The fuselage maintained enough structural integrity to protect the people inside. Modern aircraft certification standards require manufacturers to demonstrate that a plane can survive certain extreme impact loads, and this accident showed why those requirements matter.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada opened a formal investigation, focusing on the excessive descent rate and landing gear failure. The investigation noted the challenging weather conditions but centred its early attention on the approach and landing phase, examining whether the speed and rate of descent were within normal parameters given the conditions.
Key vocabulary:
- crosswind – a wind blowing across the runway rather than along it; strong crosswinds make landings more difficult and can push an aircraft sideways as it touches down
- descent rate – the speed at which an aircraft loses altitude, measured in feet per minute; an excessive descent rate during landing can cause a hard impact that the landing gear is not designed to absorb
- landing gear – the wheels, struts, and supporting structures that an aircraft uses to take off and land; if the landing gear collapses, the aircraft loses its ability to roll safely and can veer off the runway
- hull loss – an accident in which an aircraft is so badly damaged that it is written off and cannot be repaired economically; the Toronto CRJ900 was a hull loss despite everyone on board surviving
- emergency exit – a door or hatch on an aircraft used for rapid evacuation in an emergency; commercial aircraft must carry enough exits to allow all occupants to evacuate within 90 seconds
- certification standard – an official requirement that an aircraft design must meet before it is approved for commercial use; certification standards cover structural strength, fire resistance, evacuation capability, and many other safety aspects
CEFR Level B1-B2 / ICAO Level 4-5