Endeavor Air is a regional airline based in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport , and the company is a subsidiary of Delta, being wholly owned by the airline.
In their update, Delta stated that it and Endeavor were "correcting disinformation on social media containing false and misleading assertions about the flight crew".
They also gave a brief overview of the employment record of the operators with the company and stated that neither operator had instances of training failures.
It may still be weeks, or even months until the official cause of the crash is determined, and it is nothing short of a miracle that all occupants escaped either unharmed or with minor injuries, as reported by the Star Tribune. In the meantime, this article will take a closer look at what the passengers experienced, Delta's response, and what has happened since.
A miraculous escape, all things considered
It may be worth noting that weather conditions were not ideal, which may have contributed to the lack of an obvious flare maneuver being performed.
This involves the pilot pulling the plane's nose up just before landing, cutting the speed of descent considerably before the landing gear touches down.
Whether it was the speed of descent, or malfunctioning landing gear that caused the problem once the wheels touched down is still yet to be determined.
Who is conducting the official investigation?
As the crash occurred in Toronto, the investigation will be completed by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. This was reported by the Independent, which elaborated with the following quote from the Federal Aviation Administration :
The NTSB is leading a team of U.S. investigators to assist the Transportation Safety Board of Canada with their investigation of today’s accident of a Delta Air Lines Bombardier CRJ900 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Per international protocols under the International Civil Aviation Organization's Annex 13, any information about the investigation will be released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
The black boxes and flight data recorder have been recovered from the wreckage, but navigational data recorded and communications made prior to the crash have not yet been released.
Passengers were soaked in jet fuel
When viewing the crash footage, it is stunning to think that there were 80 people aboard this flight, with every one of them being alive and accounted for after the crash. All 76 passengers and four crew members survived, and officials reported mostly minor physical injuries.
Twenty-one people were taken to the hospital for injuries, and two were critically injured, according to CBS News. As of Thursday the 20th, however, all have been released from hospital.
However, it could have gone so much worse. At least two passengers had communicated that they were either covered in jet fuel or saw it from inside the cabin.
With the size of the flames seen from outside the aircraft, the crew and passengers of Flight 4819 were incredibly lucky that the fire did not spread to ignite the jet fuel within the plane.
“When we hit, it was just super hard. It hit the ground, and the plane went sideways. It’s amazing that we’re still here. Even now, I smell like jet fuel,”
One of two passengers who had chosen to sue the airline following the crash was Marthinus Lourens, who was traveling on business at the time. According to the lawsuit, which was cited by Fox 9, Marthinus "suffered significant injuries to his head, neck, back, knees and face…"
He was also suspended upside down and "drenched with jet fuel." According to his full legal complaint, Marthinus is set to receive around $200,000, if successful.
Delta's response since the crash
Delta has taken action to compensate the passengers from Flight 4819 for their injuries and distress. According to Inc.com, Delta has offered all passengers and crew a no-strings-attached payment of $30,000, which they will be eligible for whether they choose to sue the company or not.
As for their response to social media speculation as to the qualifications of the operating crew of Flight 4819, the following is Delta's full statement, given on Thursday, February 20th, 6:30 p.m., ET:
Information about Endeavor Air 4819 flight crew
Endeavor Air and Delta are correcting disinformation in social media containing false and misleading assertions about the flight crew of Endeavor Air 4819.
Captain: Mesaba Airlines, a progenitor company of Endeavor Air, hired the captain in October 2007. He has served both as an active duty Captain and in pilot training and flight safety capacities. Assertions that he failed training events are false. Assertions that he failed to flow into a pilot position at Delta Air Lines due to training failures are also false.
First Officer: Hired in January 2024 by Endeavor Air and completed training in April. She has been flying for Endeavor since that time. Her flight experience exceeded the minimum requirements set by U.S. Federal regulations. Assertions that she failed training events are false.
While both pilots had been trained to meet the minimum requirements set by US Federal regulations, it does raise an eyebrow that the co-pilot had been qualified for less than a year.
However, according to a statement by Delta CEO Ed Bastian, as cited by Reuters, both pilots should have been capable of dealing with tricky weather conditions experienced at the time of the crash:
"There is one level of safety at Delta," Bastian told CBS Mornings. "All these pilots train for these conditions."
"This is what we train for," Bastian said. "We train for this continuously."
That being the case, even the very experienced can make mistakes, particularly if the weather conditions are severe. Further analysis will need to wait until more information is available, and the true causes of the crash are made known.
Are there more plane crashes these days?
This information comes from January's preliminary data from the National Transportation Safety Board. When people say that flying is safer than driving, it is not an exaggeration, and in recent years, things have been steadily improving. The reality is that there have been fewer fatalities on scheduled commercial airliners over the last 15 years than any other 15-year stretch.
