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Washington, DC (CNN) — A landing gear support broke as a Delta Air Lines regional jet was landing before it flipped upside down, leaving passengers “hanging like bats” at Toronto Pearson International in February, according to a preliminary report from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board.
Less than three seconds before touchdown, investigators noted, the plane warned pilots with an audible alarm that they were descending quickly and the plane banked to the right. It was still descending rapidly when it hit the runway, tilted 7.5 degrees to the right, the report said.
The plane, a CRJ-900, operated by Endeavor Airlines as Delta Connection Flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto, landed February 17 in a fiery crash that ripped off a wing and rolled the plane upside down.
All 80 passengers and crew made it out alive. Twenty-one were injured, including two seriously.
On touchdown, investigators determined the side-stay attached to the aircraft’s right main landing gear fractured, the gear retracted, and the right wing broke between the landing gear and fuselage, which is the central part of the plane.
When the wing detached, 6,000 pounds of jet fuel onboard sprayed out leading to a fire and explosion.
The cockpit door was jammed shut, so the pilots had to climb out of an emergency hatch located on the ceiling of the cockpit, the report says.
Thursday’s preliminary report does not identify what caused the crash or the broken landing gear. An official determination on probable cause could take up to 600 days.
“Accidents and incidents rarely stem from a single cause,” said Yoan Marier, chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in a statement. “They’re often the result of multiple, complex interconnected factors, many extending beyond the aircraft and its operation to wider systemic issues.”
Investigators have examined components of the flight controls on the crashed plane, but didn’t note any obvious pre-existing malfunctions, the report says.
Investigators probing the crash replicated several approaches and landings in a CRJ-900 simulator, according to the report.
Going forward, the safety board will examine the metal making up the wing, certification of the landing gear and wing, landing techniques and pilot training, the evacuation, as well as flight attendant training and coordination in emergencies.
“For everyone at Endeavor Air and Delta, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement. “That’s why we remain fully engaged as participants in the investigation led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Out of respect for the integrity of this work that will continue through their final report, Endeavor Air and Delta will refrain from comment.”
The-CNN-Wire
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