A warning system on the flight of Delta Air Lines that crashed at Pearson airport last month sent an alert that indicates a high descent rate less than three seconds before the plane broke down, according to a preliminary report.
Less than a second before the touchdown, the descent rate of the plane was 1,110 feet per minute. The flight manual defines a hard landing as a “landing at a vertical descent speed of more than 600 feet/min when the gross weight of the aircraft is less than or equal to [maximum landing weight]”, says the report.
Delta Air Lines’s flight weighed less than its maximum take -off weight allowed at the time of the accident.
The report also says that less than a second before landing, the angle of the aircraft of the plane, known as the launch attitude, was of a degree. The launch attitude of the flight operations manual in the TouchDown must be between three and eight degrees, according to the report.
The report, published on Thursday, is part of an ongoing investigation by the Canada Transportation Security Board to the accident of February 17, which sent 21 people to the hospital.
“It’s too early to draw conclusions about the causes of this accident,” said the Board in a press release on Thursday. “A complete research report, which will include TSB analysis on why the accident occurred and the findings of the Board, will be published in due time.”
The flight, operated by the subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, Endeavour Air, took off from Minneapolis with 76 passengers, two members of the flight crew and two members of the cabin crew. The plane was a CL-600-2D24 (Regional Jet Series 900) manufactured by Bombardier Inc. in 2008.
Before the accident, the flight “continued without incident,” the report said.
The first officer was the pilot flying the plane. At the time of the accident, it had around 1,422 hours of total flight time, including 418.7 hours in the type of plane involved in the incident, according to the report.
The captain was the pilot monitoring for the flight. It had 3,570 hours of total flight at the time of the accident, including 764 hours in the same type of aircraft.
Fractured right -handed glim after touchdown, says the report
At 2 in the afternoon, the winds were mice at 35 knots in the area, according to the report. After the flight crew received authorization to land on track 23 at Pearson airport, the approach to 149 knots flew, “given the reported wind bursts,” he said.
Around 2.6 seconds before the Touchdown, an “Sumidero” “Alert” indicated a high descent rate, “said the report. The alert came from the improvement of the plane’s proximity of the plane.
At the time the alert rang, the speed of the plane was 136 knots, according to the report.
Less than a second before the touchdown, the indicated air speed of the plane was 134 knots and its earth speed was 111 knots. Around 2:12 pm, the right -handed landing train touched the track.
Using videos and data of the air traffic controller, Lauren Bird de CBC breaks down the key moments in the landing of the 4819 Flight Air Lines flight at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
“In the touchdown, the following occurred: the secondary stay attached to the right [main landing gear] Fractured, the folded landing gear in the retracted position, the wing root fractured between the fuselage and the landing train, and the wing separated from the fuselage, releasing a cloud of fuel for airplanes, which caught fire, “the report said.
“The exact sequence of these events has not yet been determined by a subsequent examination of fracture surfaces.”
Then, the plane began to slide along the track, finally leaving the right side to a snow -covered grass area and resting on the 15L track, near the intersection with track 23.
Meanwhile, the right wing separated completely from the plane and slid around 215 feet further along track 23.
Once the plane stopped, an evacuation began. There were 21 people injured among the 80s aboard, and it was reported that two people had serious injuries.
“The passengers hung face down in their seats, suspended for their safety belts, and many of the hand luggage and other items ended up on the ceiling of the aircraft,” the report said.
Some of the injuries occurred when the passengers unbalanced their belt and fell, according to the report.
The aircraft rescue and fire fighting teams (ARFF) arrived at the scene about five minutes after the accident of the accident, according to the report. The crews entered the fuselage after evacuating the plane.
“Shortly after, there was an explosion outside the plane in the root area of the left,” says the report. “The cause of this explosion has not yet been determined.”
The report concluded with a list of the current areas on which the Board focuses on its investigation, including a landing train exam and wings, landing techniques and pilot training, and the structure and design of the flight cover door.
The plane had a hard and flat landing, says the expert
John Gradek, Professor of Operations Administration and Integrated Aviation Management at McGill University, said that the descent rate of the plane was “significantly higher than he would expect to have in a certain landing area.”
“It was, according to all classifications, a hard landing,” he said.
The nose is only to a degree is not typical either, and it can cause a flat landing that puts stress on the aircraft, he said.
Gradek said he is interested in listening to more about the conversations in the cabin between the captain and the first officer in the period prior to the Touchdown, who according to him should include discussions about the rate of descent, speed and attitude of the nose.
“That will be a crucial evidence that the TSB will investigate in the coming months while preparing their final report,” he said.
Series of legal cases presented by passengers
All passengers who were hospitalized were discharged within a few days of the accident. But the new presentations of the United States Court by a Minneapolis law firm say that nine Canadians who were in the accident continue to suffer from “extreme bodily and mental injuries”, as well as economic losses.
The flight crew “could not observe the most fundamental procedures for a landing approach in [Pearson]could not properly monitor the flight conditions in the approach and failed [to] Communicate and react in the cabin to those flight conditions, “lawyers Bryan L. Bleichner and Christopher P. Renz wrote in the presentations, reviewed by CBC News.
These presentations are the last in a series of cases presented in relation to the flight. Toronto’s law firm, Rochon Genova, announced the day after the accident that had been held by certain passengers and their families.
The preliminary report indicates “the first officer flying the plane essentially had a very hard landing … [and] He drove the plane to the track, “said Aviation Lawyer Andrés Pereira.
Pereira represents Marthinus Lourens, a passenger on the flight that is demanding Delta Air Lines and strives for air. Lourens suffered a fractured right knee and several herniated albums after the accident, he said.
The report shows that the plane was descending at a high speed “quite unusual”, considering its distance from the track, said Pereira.
Adrienne Arsenault del Nacional speaks with the passenger of Delta Air Lines Pete Carlson about the previous moments, during and after the plane rolled on his back.
He said that Delta’s airlines and airlines of effort are responsible for how they trained the first officer. In addition, he said that the information in the report indicates that the captain “seemed to be a training pilot who did more work in front of a simulator of what really flew regularly.”
According to the report, the captain works as a member of the flight crew and simulator instructor. At the time of the accident, he had flown 3.5 hours in the previous 30 days.
“Who has scheduled these two people to fly together, it seems to me, has some questions to answer,” said Pereira.
Although a series of questions remain unanswered on Delta’s plane crash at Pearson Airport in Toronto on February 17, many praise the response of calm and professional by flight attendees. Talia Ricci of CBC obtained a look behind the training scene that prepares them for emergency situations like these.
Ken Webster, the main investigator of the TSB incident, told CBC News that the flight crew was qualified for the flight.
“There is nothing to indicate that the flight crew was not experienced,” he said. “Looking in his background is more than we will do to discover why that accident happened.”
In a statement on Thursday, a spokesman for Delta Air Lines and Endeavour Air said they would not comment on the preliminary report “out of respect for the integrity of this work that will continue through its final report.”
Passenger says the report confirms his experience in the plane
Clayton Bouffard, who lives near Sudbury, Ontario, was a passenger on the plane, along with his wife. He said the report confirmed his experience on the flight: that the plane descended too fast and that “it was not a normal landing.”
“All the descent seemed to be outside … I remember telling my wife that we seemed to go fast,” he said.
The plane leaned to the right before it fell, said Bouffard.
“We definitely hit a lot,” he said.
After the plane stopped, his wife helped him take off his seat belt as he couldn’t do. He said he continues to have neck pain and that he has not slept well from the accident.
“I am grateful that all the 80 people survive that,” he said. “It’s surprising that we all survive.”
