Delta Airlines crash at YYZ Toronto - 17 Feb 2025

[lenaitch]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891677268771995946

Oof. He hit hard. I was thinking crosswind might have been a factor with the weather we've been having but it seems not.

 

[PuckChaser]

That video looks like a hard landing, collapsed a gear that sent it sideways then rolled when it grabbed the snow with a wingtip.

 

[brihard]

Oof. Did that pilot used to land on carriers? He put that down hard.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Oof. Did that pilot used to land on carriers? He put that down hard.

Kind of a 'dive bombing' trajectory on approach...

 

[OldSolduer]

Oof. Did that pilot used to land on carriers? He put that down hard.

I’m looking forward to the Mayday episode….

 

[Quirky]

Best angle.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891800990317191428

 

[daftandbarmy]

What are the odds of someone capturing all of it like this...

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92K views · 1.9K reactions | 👀🧐🫢 New Footage Of The Delta Airlines Flight That Crashed Landed At Toronto Pearson Airport . 🇨🇦✈️💥 Thoughts 🤔🗯 • • • • • #canada #toronto #delta #pearsonairport #yyz #deltaairlines #plane #planecrash #crash #airport #m

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[Good2Golf]

That was a hard landing, for sure. I didn’t see much flare and there was about 8-10° right bank to hold against the crosswind. I’m trying to find the METAR winds at YYZ at the time, but it was howling. Looked to be near/at the max crosswind limits of the aircraft (27kts for CRJ700/900). At some point, an aircraft has to level wings and straighten to runway axis (less B-52, B-747, A380 and some other types certified to land with into wind heading different than runway heading).

‘Thankfully,’ the crash and roll probably helped jettison a lot of fuel from the actual fuselage (in the form of the right wing’s breaking away) and then the left wing being on the downwind side of the fuselage…very fortunate!

 

[lenaitch]

What are the odds of someone capturing all of it like this...

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92K views · 1.9K reactions | 👀🧐🫢 New Footage Of The Delta Airlines Flight That Crashed Landed At Toronto Pearson Airport . 🇨🇦✈️💥 Thoughts 🤔🗯 • • • • • #canada #toronto #delta #pearsonairport #yyz #deltaairlines #plane #planecrash #crash #airport #m

👀🧐🫢 New Footage Of The Delta Airlines Flight That Crashed Landed At Toronto Pearson Airport . 🇨🇦✈️💥 Thoughts 🤔🗯 • • • • • #canada #toronto #delta #pearsonairport #yyz #deltaairlines #plane...

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With planes potters? Pretty good.

That was a hard landing, for sure. I didn’t see much flare and there was about 8-10° right bank to hold against the crosswind. I’m trying to find the METAR winds at YYZ at the time, but it was howling. Looked to be near/at the max crosswind limits of the aircraft (27kts for CRJ700/900). At some point, an aircraft has to level wings and straighten to runway axis (less B-52, B-747, A380 and some other types certified to land with into wind heading different than runway heading).

‘Thankfully,’ the crash and roll probably helped jettison a lot of fuel from the actual fuselage (in the form of the right wing’s breaking away) and then the left wing being on the downwind side of the fuselage…very fortunate!

I saw somebody on one of the news channels saying the winds were within limits for the aircraft and from 270* so landing 230* diminished their cross wind effect. Not a pilot but I understand angles so it sort of made sense to me. Could have been a higher gust? Maybe.

 

[medicineman]

That was a hard landing, for sure. I didn’t see much flare and there was about 8-10° right bank to hold against the crosswind. I’m trying to find the METAR winds at YYZ at the time, but it was howling. Looked to be near/at the max crosswind limits of the aircraft (27kts for CRJ700/900). At some point, an aircraft has to level wings and straighten to runway axis (less B-52, B-747, A380 and some other types certified to land with into wind heading different than runway heading).

‘Thankfully,’ the crash and roll probably helped jettison a lot of fuel from the actual fuselage (in the form of the right wing’s breaking away) and then the left wing being on the downwind side of the fuselage…very fortunate!

Any wind shear going on that might have pushed it down that hard?

 

[YZT580]

Oof. He hit hard. I was thinking crosswind might have been a factor with the weather we've been having but it seems not.

I think you may be right re: crosswind. sustained winds were 270 at 54 which is a 35 mph crosswind. Wouldn't take much of a gust to put it beyond limits plus, even at limits close to max is a challenge for anyone and not everyone aces it every time. Interesting bit of history, Pearson used to have a 10-28. Safety tables were used to demonstrate that the odds of sustained winds requiring a 28 were acceptably low so it was converted to a taxi and construction of the new terminals blocked the 28 end. The interesting part is that for the last 3 or 4 days prior to its final closure the wind went 280 at 30 and stayed there. But it is a rare occasion. There is no criteria for closing an airport for winds in Canada. It is left up to the flight crew to say yes or no. What pilot is going to refuse the approach if they value their job. After all, the flight before made it. Incidentally, the original expansion plans showed parallels for 32, 28 and 23 which would have covered all possibilities.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The video inside showing the Flight Attendant staying at her post and getting the passengers out, she deserves a big BZ.

 

[Good2Golf]

I think you may be right re: crosswind. sustained winds were 270 at 54 which is a 35 mph crosswind. Wouldn't take much of a gust to put it beyond limits plus, even at limits close to max is a challenge for anyone and not everyone aces it every time. Interesting bit of history, Pearson used to have a 10-28. Safety tables were used to demonstrate that the odds of sustained winds requiring a 28 were acceptably low so it was converted to a taxi and construction of the new terminals blocked the 28 end. The interesting part is that for the last 3 or 4 days prior to its final closure the wind went 280 at 30 and stayed there. But it is a rare occasion. There is no criteria for closing an airport for winds in Canada. It is left up to the flight crew to say yes or no. What pilot is going to refuse the approach if they value their job. After all, the flight before made it. Incidentally, the original expansion plans showed parallels for 32, 28 and 23 which would have covered all possibilities.

YZT580, was there a SPECI? I could only find the METAR:

METAR CYYZ 172000Z 27027G35KT 5SM BLSN BKN038 M08/M15 A2994 RMK CU5 VIS VRB 2-8 SLP153

18kys crosswind component isn’t insignificant, but it’s within limits, at least for a visual or contact approach (not sure what they were on). Perhaps if they were coupled on a Cat II ILS, the wind limits might be different. I couldn’t find a ln RJ9 flight manual for approach limits.

 

[Furniture]

I think you may be right re: crosswind. sustained winds were 270 at 54 which is a 35 mph crosswind. Wouldn't take much of a gust to put it beyond limits plus, even at limits close to max is a challenge for anyone and not everyone aces it every time. Interesting bit of history, Pearson used to have a 10-28. Safety tables were used to demonstrate that the odds of sustained winds requiring a 28 were acceptably low so it was converted to a taxi and construction of the new terminals blocked the 28 end. The interesting part is that for the last 3 or 4 days prior to its final closure the wind went 280 at 30 and stayed there. But it is a rare occasion. There is no criteria for closing an airport for winds in Canada. It is left up to the flight crew to say yes or no. What pilot is going to refuse the approach if they value their job. After all, the flight before made it. Incidentally, the original expansion plans showed parallels for 32, 28 and 23 which would have covered all possibilities.

These are the observations before and after the crash.

METAR CYYZ 171600Z 26025G35KT 5SM R33R/4500V6000FT/U BLSN BKN030 M07/M12 A2990 RMK CF5 SLP137
METAR CYYZ 171700Z 27029G36KT 3SM R33L/3500VP6000FT/U R33R/2200V3000FT/N BLSN BKN033 M08/M13 A2991 RMK CF5 SLP141
METAR CYYZ 171800Z 27028G34KT 6SM R33R/3000V5000FT/N R24L/5500V6000FT/U BLSN BKN038 M08/M14 A2992 RMK CF6 SLP146
METAR CYYZ 171900Z 27028G35KT 6SM R24L/3000VP6000FT/U BLSN BKN034 M09/M14 A2993 RMK CU6 SLP149
SPECI CYYZ 171932Z 27020G32KT 6SM R24L/2600VP6000FT/D BLSN BKN030 M08/M13 A2994 RMK CU5 ACCIDENT REPORT SLP151
METAR CYYZ 172000Z 27027G35KT 5SM BLSN BKN038 M08/M15 A2994 RMK CU5 VIS VRB 2-8 SLP153
METAR CYYZ 172100Z 27026G34KT 10SM DRSN BKN040 M09/M15 A2996 RMK CU5 SLP159
METAR CYYZ 172200Z 27023G31KT 10SM DRSN SCT040 M09/M16 A2998 RMK CF3 SLP166
METAR CYYZ 172300Z 26023G28KT 15SM DRSN FEW040 FEW260 M10/M16 A3000 RMK CF1CI1 CI TR SLP172

The highlighted observation is the weather at the time of the crash alarm going off in the Met shack. I think your wind data was a bit off. Still a windy day, but the gusts are barely reaching 35 KT.

 

[YZT580]

YZT580, was there a SPECI? I could only find the METAR:

METAR CYYZ 172000Z 27027G35KT 5SM BLSN BKN038 M08/M15 A2994 RMK CU5 VIS VRB 2-8 SLP153

18kys crosswind component isn’t insignificant, but it’s within limits, at least for a visual or contact approach (not sure what they were on). Perhaps if they were coupled on a Cat II ILS, the wind limits might be different. I couldn’t find a ln RJ9 flight manual for approach limits.

.

 

[YZT580]

.

Took the info from the WX network's meteorologist, here is the quote. At the time of the landing attempt, the sustained winds were at 52 km/h, gusting as high as 65 km/h, from a 270-degree angle. The gusts are near the operational limits of the aircraft. The met station at Pearson is basically mid-field so there could be some variation. Windfinder was showing steady gusts of just over 35 mph. Furniture's info is the official line (thanks). Here is what I could find on the RJ limits.

CRJ 900 X Wind Limits:

• Wet runway: 22 knots for takeoff and landing

• Fair braking action: 20 knots for takeoff and landing

• Poor braking action: 15 knots for takeoff and landing

 

[KevinB]

Doing a frame by frame of the video @Quirky posted the right landing gear just disintegrated at touchdown.

 

[daftandbarmy]

YZT580, was there a SPECI? I could only find the METAR:

METAR CYYZ 172000Z 27027G35KT 5SM BLSN BKN038 M08/M15 A2994 RMK CU5 VIS VRB 2-8 SLP153

18kys crosswind component isn’t insignificant, but it’s within limits, at least for a visual or contact approach (not sure what they were on). Perhaps if they were coupled on a Cat II ILS, the wind limits might be different. I couldn’t find a ln RJ9 flight manual for approach limits.

Kiss the ground, not rape it... those pilots are so racy

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891847548291186738

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Some commentary from former USAF/USN/airline pilots on the crash. Includes audio from ATC.

 

[brihard]

Kiss the ground, not rape it... those pilots are so racy

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891847548291186738

He nailed the 3 wire though.