Officials release preliminary report into Toronto plane crash

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released a preliminary report on Thursday on the Delta plane crash at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

TSB findings in the report

Local perspective:

A Delta flight heading for Toronto from Minneapolis had its right landing gear break as the plane prepared to land on the tarmac, flipping the plane over and breaking off a wing. 

According to the TSB report, the broken wing pilled jet fuel along the snowy tarmac on Feb. 17 after several days of heavy snow.

The TSB’s preliminary report noted that an explosion occurred outside the aircraft on the left wing, after passengers and crew were evacuated. The cause of the explosion, the TSB said, has yet to be determined.

The safety board tells the Associated Press that its ongoing investigation centers on several key areas, including metallurgical examination of the wing structure, landing techniques, pilot training and the passenger evacuation process.

Video of the incident from the inside of another plane’s cockpit, shows the Delta plane landing hard on the runway before bursting into flames and sliding down the tarmac.

A summary of the report stated the following: 

"On 17 February 2025, the MHI RJ Aviation Group. CL-600-2D24 aircraft (CRJ-900LR) (registration N932XJ, serial number 15194) was operating as Endeavor Air flight EDV4819 from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport (KMSP), Minnesota, United States, to Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport (CYYZ), Ontario. During the landing on Runway 23, the aircraft impacted the runway, the right wing detached, and a fire ensued. The aircraft overturned and slid down the runway inverted, coming to rest near the intersection of Runway 23 and Runway 15L. Aircraft rescue and fire fighting responded, and all passengers and crew evacuated."

Toronto plane crash items recovered 

Officials investigating the crash retrieved the plane’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the flight data recorder (FDR), and other electronic components with non-volatile memory have been recovered and sent to the TSB Engineering Laboratory in Ottawa, Ontario. 

RELATED: Delta offers $30K to passengers after fiery crash landing in Toronto

Data was downloaded and is being evaluated, the TSB noted in a February release. Aircraft wreckage removed from the crash and the airport’s runway were examined by investigators.

What caused the Toronto plane crash?

The backstory:

On Feb. 18, 2025, a Delta Air Lines jet flipped on its roof while landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Fortunately, all 80 people aboard the plane survived.

According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, 21 passengers and crew were injured during the accident, many of whom were hospitalized.

RELATED: Delta plane upside-down after Toronto crash; all passengers 'accounted for'

Snow blown by wind gusts of up to 40 mph swirled when the flight from Minneapolis carrying 76 passengers and four crew members tried to land around 2:15 p.m. 

The Associated Press reported that communications between the tower and pilot were normal on approach, and it’s not clear what went wrong when the plane landed. 

Canadian authorities did not offer details on the crash during two news conferences.

Video posted on social media showed the aftermath with the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR overturned, the fuselage intact and firefighters extinguishing what was left of the fire as passengers climbed out and walked across the tarmac.

Recent plane crash incidents in 2025 

Dig deeper:

The Delta plane crash in Toronto was one of multiple aviation accidents that happened this year. 

In Arizona, two small planes collided in midair near an Arizona airport in mid-February, killing two people who were on one of the aircraft. The crash occurred at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson.

RELATED: DC plane crash: Army identifies 3rd soldier who died

A small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska in early February, killing all 10 people on board. The AP reported that the crash was one of the deadliest in the state in 25 years. 

In late January, a medical transport plane that had just taken off crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board said its cockpit voice recorder likely hadn't been functioning for years. The crew made no distress calls to air traffic control.

RELATED: Alaska plane crash: All 10 victims recovered from Bering Sea wreckage

A collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter above Washington, D.C. killed everyone aboard both aircraft in late January. 

It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground, according to the Associated Press. 

RELATED: Philly plane crash: NTSB says cockpit voice recorder did not capture doomed flight's final moments

Last year, a jetliner operated by Jeju Air skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. The AP reported that all but two of the 181 people aboard were killed in one of that country’s worst aviation disasters.

 

 

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