The preliminary report on the flight of Delta Air Lines that turned upside down in an accident landing at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto last month has launched, and shows that the plane had been descending at high speed.
Twenty -one people were injured in the failed landing on February 17.
The flight, which arrived from Minneapolis, was operated by Endeavour Air and had 80 people on board: 76 passengers and four crew members.
The report, published by the Canada Transport Security Board (TSB) on Thursday, did not reveal a cause of the accident.
On the landing, “the plane hit the track, the right wing separated and a fire occurred,” the report said. The plane then overturned, leaving the passengers hanging mouth in their seats, and slid down the inverted track until it stopped.
Of the 21 injured, it was reported that two had serious injuries, according to the report.
The report broke a second to second of the moments before landing.
At 2:12:40, 3.6 seconds before the touchdown, the descent rate had increased. A second later, the “improved sinking rate” of the flight system of the flight sounded, indicating a high descent rate.
Then, 1.6 seconds before the TouchDown, the aircraft “was slightly under the slope of the slide”, a system that guides an aircraft to the track during landing for a controlled descent.
The main land landing train made contact with the track at 2:12:43.
In the Touchdown, a part of the fractured right -headed right -handed landing train, the folded landing train in the retracted position, the wing root was fractured between the fuselage (the main body of the plane) and the landing gear, and the wing separated, “releasing a cloud of fuel for airplanes, which caught fire,” the report said.
Then, the plane slipped on the track and the body of the plane rolled to the right until it was turned upside down.
“A large part of the tail, including most vertical stabilizer and all horizontal stabilizer, separated during the roll,” the report said.
After stopping, the passengers and the crew were evacuated. After the evacuation, air rescue firefighters entered the main body of the plane.
Shortly after, “there was an explosion outside the plane in the root area of the left,” the report said. TSB said the cause of that explosion is still under investigation.
“For everyone in Endeavour Air and Delta, nothing is more important than the safety of our clients and our people. That is why we remain totally committed as participants in the research directed by the Canada Transport Security Board,” Delta said in a statement on Thursday. “Out of respect for the integrity of this work that will continue through its final report, Endeavour Air and Delta will refrain from the comments.”
