
Crosswinds may have challenged pilots in Pearson plane crash, expert says
An aviation expert with more than 30,000 flight hours says it is “very rare” for an aircraft to end up upside down in a crash, as was the case with a Delta Air Lines plane that flipped on the tarmac at Toronto’s Pearson Airport Monday.
J. Joseph, a 29-year veteran aviator in the United States Marine Corp., says it is much too early in the investigation to jump to conclusions about what happened, but conditions in Toronto were “quite windy” at the time of the crash.
Joseph says high winds, especially crosswinds that blow perpendicular to the plane, could “present certain challenges to pilots” as they try to navigate the landing at Pearson Airport.
The flight from Minneapolis crashed Monday, intact but upside down, with the wheels of the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR jutting into the air on the snow-covered tarmac.