A passenger on the Delta Air Lines flight that crash-landed upside down on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport recorded the dramatic evacuation on his phone, providing a fresh look inside the damaged cab.
Pete Koukov, a skier who runs a popular social media account, filmed the insane footage from his own point of view as he walked on the ceiling of the belly-up Delta flight and hopped out the exit towards the back of the plane.
“Being alive feels pretty cool today,” he captioned an Instagram post of the video, clearly thankful to have survived the crash alongside all 79 others onboard.
He started recording near the exit as flight attendants helped passengers out the side door of Delta Flight 4819 and later uploaded the clip to Instagram.
The footage provides a look inside the ransacked cabin, where tray tables had flown off their hinges and dangled from the seat backs. Bags were strewn around the aisle as flight attendants instructed passengers exiting to leave everything behind.
The flight attendants also repeatedly told passengers to put their phones away and not to record anything, but Koukov continued to film the wreck and recorded after he was out of the plane.
Passengers were helped out of the aircraft by others on the ground, the footage shows. Many walked straight ahead away from the aircraft, but Koukov went up towards the front to explore the rest of the wreckage.
The wing nearest to the emergency exit snapped in half and scorch marks littered the side of the plane. There were also black skid marks near the air turbine.
Koukov, in utter shock, exclaimed multiple expletives as he gawked at the crash scene.
“Yo, I was just on this f—ing plane! Oh my God,” he said.
Emergency responders quickly doused the plane in fire suppressant to extinguish the flames on the other side as the passengers scurried away to safety.
All 80 passengers were safely evacuated and 18 were injured.
An investigation into the crash is underway as emergency responders continue to evaluate the wreckage.
