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Delta Airline crash: How did passengers survive despite plane landing upside down?
A Delta Airlines plane crashed landed upside-down at Toronto Pearson International Airport, injuring 18, with three in critical condition.
In an incident that poses questions on aviation safety amid a string of plane-related incidents, a Delta Airlines plane crashed and landed upside-down at Canada's Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday. Fortunately, everyone made it out alive on that flight. 18 people, including a child, did get hurt according to Peel Regional Paramedic Services.
What saved the passengers?
According to experts, factors such as expert engineering, the aircraft’s size, and the seatbelts played a role in ensuring the safety of the people onboard.
Also read: Delta Airlines plane crashes at Toronto Pearson airport, 18 injured
For planes, it is extremely rare to flip upside-down. However, they are engineered to handle such a situation, said Mike McCormick, associate professor and a program coordinator for air traffic management at Florida’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, reported USA Today.
The seats on aircraft are designed to endure forces sixteen times the force of gravity, which ensures that they stay in place in case of a tip-over, said McCormick. That is why passengers are asked to put on their seat belts during takeoff and landing. “Absent any loose things flying around the cabin, the seats are designed to keep the passengers strapped in,” McCormick said.
The aircraft’s structural components are designed in a way wings and tail detach if the flight turns upside down, he added.
The trained crew on board is also responsible for ensuring passenger safety in such cases. They are trained to make calculated decisions to ensure that people on the flight are safe in such situations. There are reported visuals showing cabin crew evacuating passengers on board after the Delta Airlines flight crashed.
“Most people think of them as flight attendants serving refreshments and answering questions. Where they perform their true function is during experiences like this when their experience and training comes into play,” McCormick told USA Today.
Another factor that could have added to the safety of the passengers on board is the small size of the Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, according to Arnold Barnett, a leading aviation safety expert. People couldn’t have fallen too far during the overturn as the height of the aircraft’s cabin is just around 6 feet, he said.
President and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation Hassan Shahidi commended the response by the first responders on the ground at the airport in helping the passengers to evacuate and to douse the aircraft with fire-resistant foam upon crashing, averting the risk of the plane bursting into flames.
