The Delta flight that flipped over in a terrifying crash in Toronto caused chaos for dozens of other flights — with some turned back over the Atlantic, leaving passengers complaining about a six-hour “flight to nowhere.”
A British Airways flight from London Heathrow and a TAP Air Portugal flight from the Portuguese capital Lisbon were both forced to make U-turns over the Atlantic Ocean after Monday afternoon’s shocking crash closed both runways.
British Airways Flight 99 performed a dramatic turn over the Ocean around three hours into the eight-hour flight, according to data from Flightradar24.
It landed back in the UK at around midnight local time as passengers were stuck in what they called a six-hour “flight to nowhere.”
The Toronto-bound TAP flight from Lisbon changed direction around two hours into the flight, diverting first towards the Portuguese-owned Azores in the Atlantic before turning around and landing back in Portugal around eight hours after takeoff.
Flightradar24 said it had tracked an additional 44 diverted flights following Monday’s plane crash, including 11 sent to nearby Montreal, nine to Ottawa, six to Hamilton, and three to Chicago O’Hare and Pittsburgh.
Such diversions can be costly for airlines as well as frustrating for passengers, triggering expensive knock-on effects for flight schedules.
At least one child was among the 18 injured after Delta Flight 4819 carrying 76 passengers and four crew members slammed into the tarmac and overturned at Toronto Pearson at around 2:15 pm on Monday.
Three helicopters and two ambulances were scrambled to the scene and three of those on board were rushed to nearby hospitals, including a pediatric patient who was taken in an ambulance to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
An adult male in his 60s and a female in her 40s were flown via helicopter to hospitals in the area.
The majority of the remaining injured passengers on the CRJ900 twin jet suffered moderate or minor injuries.
Investigators are still examining what caused the plane to flip over as it crash-landed on the tarmac.
Astonishing video showed the plane lying on its back on the icy runway as dazed passengers exited the aircraft.
Survivor John Nelson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” early Tuesday that there was “no warning” as the plane came in for the landing.
“When the plane came in, we hit the runway really hard,” he told “GMA.”
“We kind of popped up. Felt like we were leaning to the left. And then what happened was, it was just incredibly fast. There was a giant fire wall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass. Then we were going sideways. I’m not even sure how many times we tumbled. But we ended upside down. I was hanging there in my seatbelt upside down.”
Another survivor shared a harrowing photo of herself upside down in her plane seat on Snapchat moments after the aircraft crash-landed.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation into what happened and has deployed a team to the scene, while departures and arrivals have now resumed.
