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Kent Babin
@kentb
Thoughts on this one @aviationdoctor.eth? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/17/at-least-eight-injured-as-delta-plane-flips-upon-arrival-in-toronto-airport
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
I’m bit rusty on regulations but I don’t think it’s supposed to do that
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Joke aside, the Flight Radar 24 data seems to show a normal approach but in windy conditions (28–35 kt as per METAR) and possibly gusty on landing, which could lead to a wingtip touching the ground and a subsequent flip. Speculating of course but that would explain one wing being sheared off
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Update: I've now seen the video of the landing taken from a security camera. The aircraft didn't flare / pitch up and just kept descending with a level attitude into the ground at an excessive vertical speed. It was also not banking, so it looks like we can rule out a wingtip touching the ground first. So, it was presumably a very hard landing that caused gear collapse and wing separation on one side, and then rolling over due to the asymmetry of the other wing still being attached and generating lift. My bet is on sudden windshear just before the flare causing the aircraft to slam into the ground. The weather looked terrible in YYZ. Windshear at landing is really the one edge case that we can't do much about safety-wise. As much as we have windshear detectors on the ground and on the aircraft, if it happens at that exact sweet spot just before the flare, there isn't enough time to spool up the engines and go around. At least in those rare occasions, the height is so little that the accident is survivable
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Kent Babin
@kentb
My dad (former bush pilot) had this to say: I’m sure the plane ran into the wingtip vortices of a larger plane that had just landed. They are very dangerous and will easily flip planes. Wingtip vortices can pose a hazard to aircraft, especially during the landing and takeoff phases of flight. The intensity or strength of the vortex is a function of aircraft size, speed, and configuration (flap setting, etc.). The strongest vortices are produced by heavy aircraft, flying slowly, with wing flaps and landing gear retracted ("heavy, slow and clean"). Large jet aircraft can generate vortices that can persist for many minutes, drifting with the wind.
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Wake turbulence from a large preceding aircraft is definitely capable of flipping a smaller aircraft. But I doubt it was the case here. First, the landings are time-separated based on aircraft categories (size) precisely for that reason — so the wake turbulence has time to dissipate. The controller will sequence the arrivals accordingly. Second, the drag-induced vortices that form at the wingtips travel down and forward. If they came from a departing aircraft, they would be very far ahead, toward the other end of the runway, and moving away. If they came from a landing aircraft, they would still be ahead of the CRJ (unless it landed super long and past the touchdown point of the preceding aircraft — but even then, ATC separation would have done its thing). Given the METAR showing gusty winds, it’s far more likely in my view that the strong headwind abruptly weakened / changed direction, causing a sudden drop in airspeed and a very hard landing beyond the mechanical limits of the main gear
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