We don’t yet know what caused the hard landing of the Delta flight that wound up upside down with its wings torn away in Toronto in heavy wind.
The Bombardier CRJ-900 (registration N932XJ) was operated by Endeavor Air, which is a wholly-owned regional subsidiary of Delta.
BREAKING- Toronto had a Delta flight flipped upside down. I got these photos from a friend on the plane. He’s okay. Minnesota to Toronto. pic.twitter.com/DeSoYAlsVo
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) February 17, 2025
Delta CEO Ed Bastian defended the experience of the pilots at their regional carrier and says “there is one level of safety” at Delta. Is that accurate?
The captain of the Toronto Endeavor flight reportedly failed out of Delta first officer training and was sent back to the regional carrier where they remained in charge of an aircraft.
The CA on this flight FAILED training as a @Delta FO & CEO Graham returned him to Endeavor as a CA. His first officer got her ATP on 1/9/25 & schedules changed 12 times in a five day trip. #Fatigued Do you still challenge pilot error & leadership responsibility? https://t.co/AGoEb8k10N
— Karlene Petitt (@KarlenePetitt) February 19, 2025
Meanwhile, the reported identity of the first officer suggests she may have only recently become type-rated on the aircraft and it’s suggested that her schedule had changed 12 times on the five day trip, so probably fatigued.
✈️ The Delta/Endeavor plane that crashed was piloted by Kendal Swanson.
A year ago, she was an instructor pilot for a small propellor aircraft. Recently licensed to co-pilot a small jet.
Captain, who had a questionable record himself, may have erred trusting her to land the… pic.twitter.com/d6chYkPRg6
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) February 19, 2025
Pilot flying Delta accident aircraft was brand new Endeavor Air hire Kendal Swanson. She was likely still on OE (training) ATP certified 1/9/2025
Pilot monitoring on the radios was a senior captain sim instructor who rarely flies #planecrash #toronto #delta #endeavor #DEI pic.twitter.com/5soBh0AVeD— james gastovski (@jamesgastovski1) February 19, 2025
Now, regarding the claim that the co-pilot only received her Airline Transport Pilot certificate a month ago – that seems unlikely. More likely is that it was re-issued last month, and there can be a number of reasons for this. It appears she graduated from Endeavor’s academy last February.
While ALPA focuses on ‘1,500 hours of flying’ (time spent in a hot air balloon counts and the hot air balloon can be tethered) as a means to raise the cost of becoming a pilot and create artificial shortages to drive up wages, pilots develop bad habits that airlines to train out of them as they’ve tried to build up hours in non-commercial like settings such as repeated clear air touch-and-go’s.
Fatigue is a real issue for pilots, however. A five day domestic trip with constant scheduling flux, if accurate, seems like a very bad idea.
I am not going to say that I know the cause of this incident yet with any confidence. Were the pilots confused about their altitude? There were no calls to brace, this seemed to come as a surprise. Visibility was poor, there’s a lot of discussion of windshear, but could there have been incorrect altimeter readings? While one possibility is pilot error, we could learn that a contributing factor was a system failure of some kind. There are many things that could have happened here.
@Jack — I appreciate you trolling the trolls. However, you’re forgetting a few essential qualifiers. Yes, of course, naturally, only white straight males are ‘qualified’ and ‘merit’ hires, for sure, always, but also he (not ‘they’ obviously) needs to also be wealthy, Christian, conservative, and vocally supportive of the current President. It’s a must—if not, that’s ‘communism.’ (I know, I don’t really understand it either, but just ‘go with it.’) Also, let’s be clear: Norway-white, not Italian-white. I mean, if we’re going to mock the neofascists, let’s at least try to be accurate. Thank you for your service.
@Tim Dunn – actually it doesn’t, Delta doesn’t say anything inconsistent with what I wrote about the first officer. They say the captain did not ‘fail’ out of first officer training, however we know that the captain spent 3 months at Delta in 2022 but wasn’t assigned to fly an aircraft. The return to Endeavor was classified was voluntary. But Delta isn’t entirely forthcoming.
In any case, I am not pinning blame on the crew here. I open and close saying I do not offer conclusions. And I am only offering this information to counter Ed Bastian’s clearly incorrect claim about ‘one level of safety’ between Delta and their regionals. And I am not impugning the regionals!
However it’s worth noting that ALPAs push for the 1,500 hour requirement reduces the pool from which airlines can select pilots – they can only choose from a smaller number who run the gauntlet to clock hours (where they pick up bad habits in that quest for hours) which reduces pilot quality.
The picture of the FO was at UND which has an excellent flight program. She was hired at Endeavor early 2024 but received her ATP Jan 2025. This indicates she was in the Restricted ATP program which allowed her to be hired and fly at 1000 hours instead of 1500.
Once she reached 1500 flight hours, she then would receive her full ATP. The Captain was a 2007 hire from Mesaba.
@However it’s worth noting that ALPAs push for the 1,500 hour requirement reduces the pool from which airlines can select pilots – they can only choose from a smaller number who run the gauntlet to clock hours (where they pick up bad habits in that quest for hours) which reduces pilot quality.
Comment…this is pure speculation and not true with most pilots. Clocking hours does not mean they pick up bad habits. This is a very insulting statement to most pilots who are very safe and professional.
I get it you support JSX but dont make assumptions about others.
@bliff
ATP will show a new date if you change your address or ask for a new copy from the FAA. The new date does not mean it was reissued.
The FO was probably a restricted ATP and received her full ATP in Jan 2025.
@aviator
Yes, there are voice call outs for height above the ground and white outs can be blinding but pilots trained on instruments (IFR) fly in clouds etc..all the time.
Once you reach decision height (DH) on the approach, the FAA has a list of where one item be in sight (runway lights, rabbit lights, centerline lights) or a missed approach but be executed. In order to land, you MUST have ATC clearance and be in a safe position to land.
Gary,
you are making a ton of assertions and then saying “but I don’t really know”.
You don’t make assertions if you don’t know. Others somehow manage to figure it out.
and Gene is right in all of his posts on this page.
@angry flier
I agree with your statement that the pilot did not properly transition from a crab to the landing position, did not put the mains on the ground (before the nose), and gusty winds under one wing flipped the plane. Thus, the landing should never have been attempted and a go around and divert should have been executed.
TWA (from Ozark??) had a trans who was an excellent pilot. Some of the medicine for the transition (not allowed for the FAA medical) kept the person out for intermittent time periods.
There are good and no so good pilots among all groups. The not so good should not be hired for any reason. However, airlines should not purposely hire them to meet criteria knowing they will be washed out in training.
After United lost a major lawsuit in the early 90s, they were forced to hire more females. They brought in females for interviews with 1500 hours, 200 multi and no jet time (no restricted atp at the time). AA hired pregnant females knowing they would be washed out by the notorious difficult, clannish, arrogant 727 training department.
The Delta CEO is protecting the airlines if the Captain was hired to meet stat criteria and knew the biased training dept would wash the person out.