A passenger is speaking out about their experience on Monday’s Delta Air Lines flight 4819 disaster. They were on board the Minneapolis to Toronto flight that crashed at the airport. The regional jet, operated by the airline’s wholly-owned regional carrier Endeavor, wound up upside down, with its wings sheared off. Everyone made it off the aircraft, though some of the passengers were injured including critically.
This angle gives chills (cyyz delta crash)
byu/CuteSloth42 inaviation
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
One passenger on board, who was uninjured in the crash, is sharing their experience online.
“Can you describe the landing? When did you realise that something is wrong?”
I remember thinking RIGHT before landing that we seemed to be getting tossed around by the wind a lot. We touched down, then seemed to go airborne again. Then the world titled and an orange glow ignited on the right side of the aircraft. I remember it was fairly dark apart from that glow. There was screaming and the screech of metal on concrete as we slid. When we came to a stop, everyone seemed silent for a moment as we all drew our collective breath and started to triage the situation. After that it was all helping everyone down and getting tf out of there!
“What were your initial thoughts of the crash? Things you were thinking about?”
“WELP. I’m gonna die” was my first thought. I was sitting in the aisle seat above the wings which snapped off during the crash. I could see the orange glow of flames? sparks? Or something to the right of me and assumed that hellfire was coming my way. I thought of my family..no real “life flashing before my eyes” at all.
“Did you have any moments of thinking “yup this is it”, or what was your thought process now it’s hours later.”
Shock is a helluva drug. We were all a bit out of it.
At the time of the crash I did think “Well this is it”. It wasn’t traumatic or heartwrenching..more of a feeling of acceptance. Its been quite a while now and I’m still feeling numb and unable to sleep. I’m sure I’ll deal more with it in the morning! I lost everything except my passport and phone so I have a lot of filling in the gaps to do tomorrow.
“How did the wings get torn off? How many times did the plane roll over?”
I think it only flipped once, from belly to back. I am sure that took one wing off but I don’t know how the second one let loose. The tail section must have ripped off during the turn as well..i remember seeing it near one of the wings. Seems weird to speak about it like some very distant memory but that’s how it feels!
“Was there any warning?”
We could feel the wind knocking us around before landing, but this has happened to me on flights that didn’t result in a crash. There was no announcement or anything from the flight crew before we overturned, though.
“So after the plane came to a stop, were you all just hanging upside down I presume??? What happened after the plane stopped? Flight crew jumped into action? Pilot on comms?”
[W]e were hanging like bats! Lol. Those of us who were able unbuckled ourselves and helped everyone around us. The flight attendants mostly helped to usher us off, but it was the passengers that did most of the work to secure everyone around them. There were 2 flight attendants doing everything they could, but with 80 of us that’s a big task. We never heard from the pilot that I remember..I heard that all flight crew was okay but I never saw them. The 2 flight attendants were with us in the aftermath and they looked ok!
…A lot of us immediately got ourselves down and helped everyone else around us as best we could. One of us would unbuckle the belt while the others helped to guide the person down to safety. It was really nice to see people come together when we really needed one another!
“Did the lights illuminate inside? I saw the video of the landing and there was a huge fireball. What did you see from inside?”
From inside we didn’t see any of the fire, thank goodness! We were all upside down to start with, but many of us were able to release themselves pretty quickly. After that the “upright” of us helped the upside-down until we were all righted and ready to evacuate. We were able to quickly get out the one emergency exit that was safe, the other one poured jet fuel in when they opened it.
“Did any luggage in the overhead bins fly out?”
Not that i saw! My seatmate tried to open the luggage bun below us (which should have been above) but it was firmly sealed.
“What was the actual crash like? Was it disorienting enough to not let you be able to think?”
I was in the military for quite a while so I’m not sure if any if that training swayed my experience. While it was happenening I very calmly had the thought that I was likely going to die. After we skidded to halt, my only goal was to get everyone safely down and then get the eff off the plane. That sentiment seemed to be felt by everyone on the flight. I saw so many people acting selflessly, comforting one another and making sure we all made it out. I’m a pessimist, but this did give me a little more hope for humanity.
“What was the mood after the plane flip? When did instructions came in on what to do?”
Immediately after there was a lot of confusion and, well, despair. But we all rallied and helped each other out! The first instruction we got was to stay in our seats, which we all completely ignored. Hanging upside down stuck in our seats is NOT how we get out! After that the flight attendants ushered us out and everyone was good about going single file. In hindsight, those flight attendants must have been just as scared as us and were doing what they could for our safety. One did yell at me for grabbing my backpack that had the meds I need to take daily, but she was just doing her job.
“How did your close ones receive the news?”
My husband took it the hardest. The reality of being home with the two kiddos on a public holiday when daycare is closed really drove it home for him! I haven’t, and won’t tell me kids until they’re much older. They don’t have the facilities as a toddler and a preschooler to understand the magnitude or really make sense of any of it. When the time is right, I’ll tell them. Until them I’ll smother them with love and they’ll have.to deal with it
“Were there any children or elderly people on board? As a father of two young kids, I always think about the children these situations and how they end up.”
Very few children and few elderly enough to be of concern from what irememeber. I have two little girls as well, so i echo your thought of the young ones onboard. My kids are too young to understand what happened, so my call home.to tell them goodnight was especially emotional after all that happened. I’m so grateful to get to go home to them despite all that’s happened!
“Any weird premonitions during the day leading up to your flight”
In hindsight, things stand out. For example, adding an emergency contact at the check-in kiosk and thinking how odd that was. Saying goodbye to my kids and thinking “what if this is the last time”.
“What happens tomorrow? Are people just going to go off on their own or is the airline arranging for those who want to be together tomorrow to get together for briefings on the crash, to see if you need anything, and to give you immediate disaster mental health counselors to talk to or anything like that?”
Delta is checking up on us. Those who were local went home, those who were supposed to connect went to Delta sponsored rooms, and those of us who has prior arrangements went to our hotels. I am not sure if I’ll head home tomorrow. I think I’ll take it as it comes!
“Did you have to sign anything after or give any statements? Were you stuck upside down for a long time?”
No NDA, no real debrief. I think the local responders were as shocked as we were with the incident! One paramedic I asked said the last time something on this scale happened was ~20 years ago with Air France.
We weren’t upside down long. Near my row, we all made sure to get each other down before head rush happened. After it happened, most people were fairly quiet. No one knew what to do or say. I was finally free of the airport around 10pm local time and am still trying to calm down enough to sleep
“Are you afraid to fly again?”
I joked to my husband that I’m now the safest person to fly with, statistically! I haven’t reached a real conclusion though. If you asked me to get on a flight home now I’d tell you to pound sand. Tomorrow might be different.
…I’m not about to hop on a flight home (originated at MSP) yet. I think the crash happened in 15 minutes or less, with the time I got out of the jet being the end of the 15 minutes. I could be 10000% wrong though.
Unreal, for those on aircraft wondering if it was possible to hit too hard, the answer is yes. Essentially, they landed so hard that the starboard wing snapped off, and the port wing then had enough unbalanced lift to rotate the aircraft 180 degrees as it continued to slide down the runway. Video link here: https://streamable.com/85ars3. So grateful that they all made it out safe.
Was wondering how the upside down situation was handled. Nice job by the pax to help each other out.
@greg
Except for the passengers observed who prioritized videoing their experience and/or grabbing their carry on luggage over helping other passengers.
Looked like a hard landing and maybe the right side landing gear buckled? I winder did the snow initially help stop the plane going up in flames?
Seems to me like the back right landing gear/wheel gave in with the hit to the ground and that made the plane to tip hard right on the runway and lose its right wing during the sideflip but then the left wing broke the roll inertia and made the plane stop upside down instead of ending up doing a 360 or more.
People taking their luggage during an emergency evacuation should be criminally prosecuted
@KR @Abey — I understand your concern, but let’s be grateful that they all made it out. And, no, criminal prosecution is not proportionate to your alleged violation of norms by said video takers. C’mon people. You know you’d whip out your phone, too… if it didn’t fly out of the plane during the roll. Besides, I’m just impressed such a g-force didn’t know anyone unconscious—it must have been so surprising and disorienting. Most folks are distracted as it is on take-off or landing, watching their phones anyway. We maybe want to update guidance to put away headphones and earbuds for take-off and landing, and recommend passengers keep their shoes and jackets on, especially if it’s cold-weather at the airport in case there’s an evacuation. Or not, you do you.
As far as the touch down (impact) on landing, FAA requires passengers seat to be able to withstand X amount of G forces prior to failing and causing injury. I suspect this requirement saved many from serious lumbar compression injuries. If interested in the test criteria look up FAA AC25.562-1a . . . 44 pages of technical data.
Blessing to all those passengers who maintained situational awareness and had the cognizance to react and to help others.
God was watching over that plane.
As brittle as CRJs are, I’m shocked the fuselage is still in one piece.