'We were hanging upside down like bats': Survivors reveal fear and chaos inside flipped over Delta plane
18 February 2025, 12:22
Passengers have recalled the chaotic moment they were 'upside down hanging like bats' after a Delta Air Lines jet flipped on its head while landing in Toronto.
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All 80 people on board survived and travellers have now revealed the stress and fear they experienced during the crash.
Passengers say there was no indication of anything unusual until the CRJ-900LR aircraft flipped, tumbled and slammed into the runway, spitting out a huge fireball as it hit the ground.
No fatalities and 17 injured in Delta jet crash in Toronto, official says
Read More: Passenger jet 'flips over' during landing in Toronto leaving 15 injured - with three critical
Peter Koukov, a passenger on the doomed flight, told CNN he "didn't know anything was the matter" as the plane approached for landing and then all of a sudden, after the jet came to a standstill, "we were upside down hanging like bats".
John Nelson, another passenger, recalled how he released his seatbelt and fell to the floor, which was really the ceiling of the plane, as people yelled for everyone to evacuate the plane.
He said: "We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down" but he had been able to unbuckle himself and "sort of fall and push myself to the ground."
He also noted how "some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down, and others were able to get down on their own."
Peter Carlson, who was traveling to Toronto for a paramedics conference, claims passengers and crew worked as a team to quickly get to safety and that "everyone on that plane suddenly became very close".
Carlson said the landing was "very forceful" and said "it was cement and metal" in the upside-down aircraft.
He told CBC News: "One minute you're landing, kind of waiting to see your friends and your people, and the next minute you're physically upside down.
"All the sudden everything just kind of went sideways and then next thing I know it's kind of a blink and I'm upside down still strapped in."
Carlson, who suffered a cut to his head during the crash, said when he took off his seat belt he crashed onto the ceiling, which had become the floor.
He smelled gas, saw aviation fuel cascading down the cabin windows and knew he needed to get out but said his fatherly intuition and paramedic skills kicked in.
Carlson and another man assisted a mother and her young son out of the plane and then Carlson dropped onto the tarmac.
"I didn't care how cold it was, didn't care how far I had to walk, how long I had to stand - all of us just wanted to be out of the aircraft."
Eighteen people were injured but only a small number are thought to be seriously hurt, and investigators are looking into what caused the crash.
Passengers could be seen crawling out of the plane, which had 76 passengers and four crew on board traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.
Officials confirmed 19 people were treated for injuries and two were airlifted to trauma centres for critical but non-life-threatening injuries.
Deborah Flint of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority called the response by emergency personnel "textbook" and credited them with helping ensure no loss of life.
Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said it was working to "gather information and assess the occurrence".
Two runways will remain closed for several days for investigation and passengers have been told to expect some delays.
