When Delta Flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto landed in a fiery crash that ripped off a wing and rolled the plane upside down, panicked onlookers feared the worst.

But Michael McCormick saw decades of aircraft safety improvements in action. All 80 people on board survived last week’s crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

“That was absolutely phenomenal that you could see an aircraft on its back like that and have people walking away from it,” said McCormick, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Fiery aviation disasters of the past have taught experts that jet fuel should be stored primarily in the wings, not directly beneath the passengers. So when Delta’s Bombardier CRJ900 crash-landed Monday, tipped over and skidded down the runway, its fuel-laden right wing broke off, leaving behind a massive inferno. The plane continued skidding and rolled over.

When a wing rips off entirely due to impact, ditching potentially explosive fuel is just one benefit, McCormick said.

“We want to be able to separate the fuel from the passenger compartment, and at the same time, we want to be able to ensure that the fuselage can come to rest in a stable position,” McCormick said.

The plane ended up in a stable position — albeit upside down. Everyone survived, thanks in part to brawny seats that can withstand extreme force.

Most modern commercial aircraft are required to have what’s known as 16G seats, meaning they can withstand 16 times the force of gravity, McCormick said.

“You don’t want the seats to either fall apart or come loose in an aircraft accident — even if it’s upside down,” he said. “So it’s not specifically designed for comfort, it’s designed for durability.”

The seats include a humble yet critical safety feature: life-saving seat belts. Without the seat belts, passengers would have been thrown around and would have sustained a lot more injuries.

While high-tech engineering likely helped save lives, “You cannot give enough credit to the cabin crew for the safe evacuation of that aircraft,” McCormick said.

The two flight attendants on the flight had never landed a plane upside down, but the duo had trained for many scenarios. Despite dozens of passengers being strapped in their seats and dangling upside down like bats, the crew managed to evacuate the entire plane in less than 90 seconds. They did a phenomenal job.

上周，达美航空4819航班从美国明尼阿波利斯飞往加拿大多伦多，降落时发生剧烈撞击，导致机翼脱落并整机翻转，旁观者惊恐不已，担心最坏的情况发生。然而，多伦多皮尔逊国际机场的这场事故中，机上80人全部生还。迈克尔•麦考密克见证了数十年来飞机安全的改进，丝毫不觉得意外。

“看到飞机那样翻倒，人们还能活着走出来，这很了不起，”安柏瑞德航空大学的副教授麦考密克说。过去的航空灾难教会了专家们，飞机燃油应主要储存在机翼中，而不是位于客舱下方。因此，当达美的庞巴迪CRJ900周一迫降、倾覆并在跑道上滑行时，满载燃料的右翼断裂，留下巨大的火海。飞机则继续滑行并翻转。

麦考密克说，当机翼因撞击完全脱落时，远离爆炸性燃料只是其中一个好处。“我们希望燃料与客舱分离，同时确保机身能够停稳。”

飞机最终停在了一个稳定的位置 —— 尽管是倒置的。多亏了能够承受极端冲击力的坚固座椅，所有人得以生还。麦考密克说，大多数现代商用飞机都要配备所谓的16G座椅，这意味着它们可以承受16倍的重力。

“你不希望座椅在飞机事故中散架或松动 —— 即使飞机是倒置的，”他说。“所以座椅设计首先不考虑舒适，而是坚固。”座椅包括一个简单但关键的安全措施：安全带。如果没有安全带，乘客会被抛来抛去，更容易受伤。

麦考密克说，虽然科技进步有助于挽救生命，但“机组人员安全疏散人员至关重要，怎么夸都不为过”。航班上的两名空乘人员从未经历过飞机降落后倾倒，但他们接受过多种场景的培训。尽管数十名乘客被绑在座位上，像蝙蝠一样倒挂，机组人员还是在不到90秒的时间内成功疏散了所有人。他们做得非常出色。

(Translated by DeepSeek)