The drill is familiar for most airline passengers: how to buckle up your seat belt, put on the oxygen masks and use the seat cushion as a flotation device. What they don't tell you is what to do if you suddenly find yourself in an upside-down aircraft.
For the passengers of a Delta flight on Monday, that suddenly became an extremely crucial detail.
Expert engineering, the size of the aircraft and seatbelts all likely played a factor in protecting people aboard a passenger jet that flipped over at a Toronto airport, experts said Monday, the latest in a string of high-profile crashes that have raised questions about aviation safety.
The plane, a Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, flipped upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All 80 people aboard were evacuated, according to Delta. Eighteen injuries were reported, most of them ranging from minor to moderate.
While it is extremely rare for an aircraft to flip on its back, they are engineered to handle it, said Mike McCormick, associate professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.