Delta crash survivor opens up about terror inside overturned plane

Pete Carleton was one of the 80 passengers who came face to face with death when a Delta Airlines plane flipped upside down after landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on February 17, 2025.

It was like any other business trip for Pete Carleton, a frequent traveler from Minnesota: he passed through TSA, filled his water bottle after the security checkpoint, and chatted with colleagues at the gate, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

On that cold February day, just before noon, he boarded Delta Connection Flight 4819 to Toronto. He found his window seat, put on his headphones, and played one of his favorite Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, CNN reports.

“I boarded the plane and did what I always do — you know, sat down, put on my headphones, tuned out,” he said. “I didn’t talk to the guy next to me. He didn’t talk to me. Just a typical flight.”

Everything went smoothly until the aircraft prepared to land and the unimaginable happened. The main landing gear support failed, and the fuselage slid down the runway. One wing broke during the impact. The tail was torn off. When the plane finally came to a stop, it was upside down. The floor became the ceiling, and the ceiling became the floor, leaving passengers “hanging like bats” from their seats.

This was one of a series of high-profile incidents this year that raised serious questions about aviation safety, but miraculously, Carleton and everyone on board survived.

“I’m very lucky… to have made it through this,” Carleton said.

But what he saw and experienced on that plane 10 months ago still causes panic attacks and a new fear of flying that the seasoned traveler believes will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Details of what happened inside the plane remain vivid for Carleton. As the nearly 90-minute flight was coming to an end, “it was really intense,” he said. “I just didn’t feel right… I felt like we were coming in fast.”

“We just slammed down, like a ton of bricks, and the first thing I see is flames outside my window.”

He was horrified as he watched sheets of fire flicker outside while the sound of metal scraping across the frozen concrete filled the cabin. Moments later, the flames disappeared when the right wing detached from the aircraft.

The cabin fell silent, except for alarms going off on people’s Apple Watches as the devices detected the severity of the noise and impact.

With no visible fire, Carleton’s immediate thoughts turned to making sure he had a “fighting chance” to survive. He fell onto the roof of the plane, injuring himself. Many passengers were trying to climb down without hurting others as they fell.

“I helped one guy across the aisle and another,” Carleton said. Passengers shouted, “Open the door!” he recalled. People rushed to help one another in the minutes before the doors opened.

Jet fuel was spilling into the cabin, filling the space as Carleton, exhausted and disoriented, crawled toward the exit, throwing aside luggage that had fallen from the overturned overhead bins to clear a path for other passengers. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

Once he finally exited the aircraft — soaked in fuel — he walked several dozen steps away and turned back to look for one of his colleagues who had also escaped.

Carleton stood on the runway and watched two firefighters jump from the plane just as part of the wreckage exploded. They had jumped from the same emergency exit he had used moments earlier. He escaped with nothing. His phone, medication, and luggage were left behind.

He felt his ears ringing as he watched a family with a child and a man struggling to breathe being airlifted away before two buses arrived to take the remaining passengers to the terminal. The smell of jet fuel was so strong that the bus windows had to be opened during the ride.

Later, Delta offered $30,000 in cash, “no strings attached,” to each passenger on board. Currently, about 55 people are involved in lawsuits against Endeavor and Delta over the crash, according to Carleton’s attorney, Jim Brauchle, an aviation lawyer at Motley Rice.

Carleton now suffers from hearing loss, and his speech has changed. Shortly after the crash, he remembers his wife telling him his voice sounded different — but that wasn’t all.

As reported by CE Report, while panic attacks, fear of flying in winter, and other trauma triggers persist, Carleton has found an escape that is having a positive effect on his life.

He has immersed himself in his fascination with birds of prey and is helping wildlife conservation by volunteering in the carpentry area of a raptor center in Minneapolis. He says he wants to find other ways to change the world around him with his second chance.