After the tragic accident last month Between an American Airlines plane and an United States army helicopter that left 67 dead, on Monday there was a similar scene when it occurred A forced landing of Delta Air Lines’s flight 4819 In Toronto. Two videos showed rawly the scene that the 80 people who went on board and who ended the plane turned. And yet, it did not end in tragedy. How could they be saved?
The “miracle.” Delta Air Lines’s flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air, made a seemingly normal landing at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto until, Suddenly, everything went wrong. As soon as the wheels began to touch the wheel, the plane slipped, hit its right wing, turned on its axis and ended upside down, leaving an absolute chaos scene.
But as we said, and despite the violence of the accident, The 80 passengers and crew managed to survivealthough 18 were injured, including an adult and a child in critical condition, although already out of danger.
The impact and the fight to escape. They counted at the Washington Post in a report report that the passengers described the impact as “collide with a wall” before the plane turned. When they were face down, many remained suspended by their seat belts, seeing how the fuel slid through the windows and the fire consumed part of the aircraft.
Pete Carlson, a paramedic on board, managed to unbutch and drop to the roof of the planenow turned into the ground, before helping others free from their seats. Meanwhile, passengers, in shock, collaborated with each other to get out as quickly as possible. A video recorded by Pete Koukovanother passenger, showed the crew organizing the evacuation with firm and urgent instructions, guiding people through emergency doors in an inverted plane, a rare scenario in aerial accidents. Outside, firefighters sprayed fushes with foam, while black smoke and flames hindered visibility in full snowstorm.
How tragedy was avoided. In front of many Other aerial catastrophes More or less recent, experts have been detailing these days how the “miracle” was possible. Actually and as we will see, there is not a single factor, but several that helped that finally there was not a single death. Three were the main factors that we describe.
Plane design and safety measures. He Bombardier CRJ900like all modern commercial planes, it is built with standards called “Crashworthiness”which means that its structure, safety belts and seats are designed to maximize survival in case of impact. In this regard, the cabin absorbed much of the strength of the crash without disintegrating, allowing passengers to go alive.
According to Graham Braithwaiteexpert in aeronautics at the University of Cranfield, these elements were fundamental for passengers to resist the impact of the overturn without fatal injuries. Professor Michael J. McCormickfrom the Embry-Riddle University, stood out in the post That engineering and aeronautical regulations have advanced so much that accidents that in the past would have been lethal can now result in total survival.
Assessment of the crew. Equally important that the design of the aircraft was crew trainingdecisive to organize a rapid and effective evacuation. Despite confusion and chaos, they managed to maintain order and get everyone out of the plane in a matter of minutes, even with the aircraft dump.
Here it is important to remember that the regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) require that Any plane with more than 44 passengers can be evacuated in less than 90 seconds. However, in this case, the evacuation was more complex because the plane was overturned, hindering the orientation and exit of the passengers.
Immediate response of emergency equipment. The third of the key legs. Toronto airport authorities acted rapidlyensuring the area and preventing the fire from extending to fuel deposits. The first air control reports confirmed the severity of the situation: “The plane is face down and in flames”, which led to a rapid mobilization of rescue equipment.
According to the norms of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), rescue teams They must respond in less than two minutes. In this case, firefighters and paramedics arrived at the place in a matter of minutes, stifled the fire and helped evacuate passengers.
Causes of the accident. Although the exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined, it is known that landing occurred under wind conditions up to 70 km/hyve accumulated On the track after two recent storms. Thus, the airport firefighters ruled out problems with the track, which suggests that other factors, such as mechanical failure or human error, could have influenced.
Be that as it may, in a context where Recent air accidents They have resulted in fatal tragediesthe total survival of flight passengers 4819 is a real testimony of the advance in aeronautical engineering, security protocols and emergency response. Although The images of the airplane burned and overturned They suggest an inevitable disaster, the combination of these factors allowed to avoid the worst.
As Carlson underlined In his interview, after leaving the plane I only thought about one thing: “I didn’t care about the cold, I didn’t care how much I had to walk, all we wanted to be out of the plane.”
Image | Yyzbrennan
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