Aviation experts give early analysis after watching video of Toronto plane crash
Aviation experts react to plane flipping in Toronto
Concerns are growing about the safety of air travel after several recent plane crashes across the U.S.
SEATTLE - Questions continued mounting Tuesday after a commercial plane flipped upside down while landing in Toronto, Canada. All 76 passengers and four flight crew members onboard the Delta Airlines plane from Minneapolis survived the crash landing.
What they're saying:
"Very close to being a miracle that everybody survived that accident," said Scott Hamilton, aviation industry consultant with Leeham Company.
One passenger’s cellphone video showed flight attendants assisting people as they crawled out of the emergency exit door to escape the fiery landing.
Captain Ross Aimer is a retired pilot who flew with United Airlines for 40 years, and private jets for 20 years. Aimer said the flight attendants demonstrated textbook emergency response to get everyone safely off the plane.
"What we saw was the system at work, the way it should be. Flight attendants, who are sometimes ignored, did their job," said Aimer. "They’re experienced, they’re professionals, and saved lives. And that’s why they’re there."
As more cellphone videos of the encounter circulated on the internet, concerns grew about the safety of air travel. This latest incident comes after three other deadly crashes in recent weeks in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and western Alaska.
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Despite the recent tragedies, Hamilton said the plane crashes were a spate of bad luck.
"There’s not a nexus, no common thread that I’ve seen. We’re just facing, quite frankly, an unfortunate series of coincidences here in timing," said Hamilton.
The backstory:
Both aviation experts said it was important to keep in mind that each crash happened under different circumstances. They said travelers should remember a plane crash has not happened since 2009, which they said was a "remarkable" record.
"We had 16 years of impeccable safety record. And thanks to the regulators, the aircraft manufacturers, the FAA, we had this amazing safety record," said Aimer, who is also the CEO of Aero Consulting Experts.
"That’s remarkable, and it just speaks to the overall safety of the industry," said Hamilton. "The most dangerous part of flying is the trip to the airport in the automobile. Once you get at that airport, and you’re in that airplane, the odds of you being involved in an accident are huge."
The wind gusts were nearly 40 miles per hour when the Delta plane slid on the icy runway at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The plane lost its tail and both wings while flipping over, which also started a fire.
21 people hurt after plane flips in Toronto
Investigators in Toronto are now trying to determine whether strong winds played a role in the crash landing.
The weather will be one of many factors under investigation by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board.
Based on what cellphone videos appear to show of the landing, Aimer said investigators will likely look closer at the plane’s right landing gear.
"May have failed on landing, causing the aircraft to tilt to a point the wing on the right side may have broken off. And you have to understand, even though that wing is departed, the left wing is still there and flying, which means it lifts that aircraft further. Literally flips it on its back," said Ross.
What's next:
As questions rise about air safety, fears also grow of something happening again now that President Donald Trump’s Administration just laid off almost 400 probationary workers at the Federal Aviation Administration.
"In the long run, yes, it will definitely affect our safety system that we’ve worked so hard for," said Aimer.
"Trump may not have anything to do with accidents that happened up through yesterday, but you have got to be concerned about what the effect of all these layoffs are going to be in the future. Is this laying the foundation for a tragedy in the future? And that is a real concern," said Hamilton.
The aviation experts explained that under U.S. law, the NTSB is required within 30 days of a plane accident to give details on what the investigation has revealed thus far. While Canada may have a different policy, it is possible to hear about what happened in Toronto a few weeks from now. In the meantime, per the U.S. rules, there could be new information released within the next few days regarding the midair collision in Washington D.C. between an army helicopter and an American Airlines plane.
The Source: Information in this story is from FOX 13 Seattle reporting, which includes interviews with aviation industry consultant Scott Hamilton and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts Ross Aimer.
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