aviation

Thoughts on this one @aviationdoctor.eth?

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

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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I’m bit rusty on regulations but I don’t think it’s supposed to do that

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

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

Yes, bush aircraft do use skis to land in remote arctic regions. But not commercial jets and not at major aerodromes that have snowplows to clear the runways of snow

Looks like it indeed turned sideways first (wing tip acting as pivot into the ground) and then flipped. Thankfully it didn’t cartwheel which can happen if the wing doesn’t separate. Quite a happy outcome all things considered

My understanding is that planes had to be fitted with skiis to land in Canada in winter.

I guess it must've turned sideways and then flipped?