Investigators are attempting to determine how all 76 passengers and four crew members aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 4819 survived after their plane crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday.
Despite the plane skidding down the runway at over 100 mph, flipping over and losing a wing, all 80 people onboard walked away with minimal injuries.
ABC News spoke with aviation experts who pointed to three key elements that begin to explain how the passengers survived the crash: the plane’s landing gear, its wing and its fuselage.
‘We hit pretty hard’
The regional jet was a Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ-900. Experts described the 16-year-old narrow-body plane as a workhorse plane for flights between midsized cities.
Delta Flight 4819, traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto, was operated by Endeavor Air. Chris Finlayson used to fly that route for Endeavor.
“When you come into land and then you roll out, it’s very easy to end up pulling …