This is a follow-up to Landing a CRJ in Toronto. Much has been written about Endeavor’s passion for diversity, inclusion, and equity (consistent with parent company Delta’s passion for DEI) so it seems fair to say that any landing by Endeavor is a “DEI landing”.
Viewed in isolation, a video of the DEI CRJ-900 landing that resulted in a crash/fire/flip doesn’t look that bad.
The approach angle and descent rate doesn’t seem alarming, though maybe there is some vertical acceleration at the very end. If viewed next to a video of an ordinary nothing-bent CRJ-900 landing, though, the abnormality jumps out. A normal landing has a dramatically longer flare and float, with corresponding much lower vertical speed on touching the runway.
Pilots transitioning from little pistons to airliners are admonished to “fly it on” and not try to hold the plane off the runway for as long as they did in their Cessna/Piper/Cirrus days. The ground spoilers on a jet don’t pop up until “weight on wheels” sensors on both main legs are positive. Therefore, a long float and butter-smooth landing chews up a lot more runway than an, um, “positive” landing in which the ground spoilers pop up right at the 1000′ markers. The DEI-enriched Endeavor crew apparently took the “fly it on” mantra too literally.
One other aspect of landing a jet of this size that might not be familiar to pilots with piston experience: the always-present-in-a-piston option to go around by adding power and climbing out doesn’t exist below about 50′. Once the thrust levers are pulled back, there is no procedure for adding power back in and trying to take off again. It might be doable, despite the long spool-up time for the heavy engines, but there is no training in this method. Maybe an airline crew would try this if a fire truck or another aircraft suddenly began to block the runway. Other than that, thrust levers back means a commitment to the landing and it might not be obvious how to fix a co-pilot’s mistakes (though a failure to flare, on the other hand, could be obvious and could be fixed with aft pressure on the yoke while saying “I have the controls”).
Related:
- My visual approach, and Asiana’s (in which a beginner CRJ pilot floats down the runway at La Guardia)
Unverified, but for what it’s worth: “Pilot flying Delta accident aircraft was brand new Endeavor Air hire, 26 year old Kendal Swanson. She was likely still on OE (training) ATP certified 1/9/2025. Pilot monitoring on the radios was a senior captain sim instructor who rarely flies”
https://airlive.net/news/2025/02/20/source-claims-a-26yo-female-pilot-still-on-training-was-flying-delta-dl4819-which-crashed-in-toronto/
@philg: since this is unverified, edit out the pilot’s name?
If it proves to have been someone else that will itself be interesting as an example of why we shouldn’t accept what we hear at face value.
Do we know anything at all about the crew of the accident plane? At this point, it’s all speculation. To me (a humble pilot of piston aircraft and gliders), the approach does not look particularly dramatic. I still think that somehow the landing gear collapsed, causing the wing to hit the ground and detach. The other wing, still generating significant lift, flipped the plane. I’m amazed that everyone got out alive. I even saw some footage captured by one of the passengers while exiting the plane (I guess some people would film their own executions if given the chance).
I was surprised to see that evacuation video. I don’t think I would have had the presence of mind to get out my phone.
Forget DEI, American recently hired pilots are, in general, far more experienced than the ones in Europe (think Germanwings Flight 9525). And let us not talk about the pilots from other places…
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53182750
😳🤯
So this was a DEI caused event?!?
Sounds like the Captain was hired at Endeavor more than a decade ago and was a sim instructor who didn’t actually fly much. Flowed up to Delta, had trouble with training, and ended up back at Endeavor. Big red flag. Good pilots don’t spend a decade or more at a regional airline.
As expected, the first officer was a kid with very little experience. That’s just how the system works now. Was it a Kara Hultgreen situation where she was advanced along despite having prior issues? Rumors about that but nothing definitive.