Passengers onboard the Delta Air Lines regional jet that turned upside down on landing at Canada's Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday have captured on video the harrowing moments as they were rescued. All 80 passengers inside the plane that flipped on landing amid windy weather during a snowstorm are safe.
Footage shared by Pete Koukov, a skier, shows the crucial moments as he walked on the ceiling of the belly-up Delta flight before jumping out to safety through the exit at the back of the plane. He captioned the video on his Instagram page "Being alive feels pretty cool today".
'We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down hanging like bats,' he said.
A Delta flight carrying roughly 80 passengers from Minnesota appears to have crash landed at Toronto Pearson Airport. No casualties have been reported as of this time. Numerous photos and videos have been released showing passengers safely exiting the plane, which flipped upside… pic.twitter.com/YWjztVufla
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 17, 2025
The video also showed the damaged inside of the plane, ransacked cabins and broken seats. Bags were seen strewn around all over the aisle. A flight attendant was also captured on the video asking passengers to stop recording. People on the ground were seen helping passengers to leap out of the plane.
Another passenger, identified as Ashley Zook, also recorded herself stuck upside down. “I was just in a plane crash. Oh my God!” Ashley said.
John Nelson, another passenger, also posted on Facebook the rescue efforts as he along with others jumped to safety out of the flipped aeroplane. “We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside-down,” Nelson was heard saying in the video.
He also told CNN that he saw strong, gusty winds and runways in a 'weird condition' ahead of the incident, a claim that was denied by the authorities in Toronto.
The incident happened at Canada's Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday and 18 people were injured in the incident. The 16-year-old CRJ900, made by Canada's Bombardier and powered by GE Aerospace engines, can seat up to 90 people.
Though Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken said that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions, the weather conditions at the time of the crash indicated a "gusting crosswind and blowing snow." The Delta plane touched down in Toronto at 2:13 p.m. (1913 GMT) after an 86-minute flight and came to rest near the intersection of Runway 23 and Runway 15.
