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Video Shows Delta Plane Crashing, Burning And Flipping Over; 2 Passengers Remain Hospitalized After Toronto Plane Crash; New York Governor Convenes NYC Leaders Amid Demands For Adams to Resign. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 18, 2025 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[14:00:46]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: New details and videos shedding light on what may have caused the Delta flight to flip over while landing in Toronto. Fortunately, every passenger and crew member survived. Officials, though, are still trying to figure out how weather conditions may have impacted this landing and led to this crash.

Also, the U.S. and Russia reestablishing diplomatic channels to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine, the country that was invaded but not invited to the peace talks. Does that mean that Ukraine is going to be left out in the cold entirely? We'll discuss.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And later, funds diverted. A new report from military.com says the army is redirecting about half of the money it collects from soldiers to pay for their food. I'll speak to the reporter who uncovered this. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

This is a nightmare scenario in so many ways. 80 people crash landing inside a plane that catches fire, loses a wing, skids down a runway, flips upside down. Today, CNN has obtained new video showing that very moment at Toronto Pearson International Airport. And you can see Delta Flight 4819 slamming down on the runway Monday afternoon.

You can see it here. It's a hard landing and if that wasn't enough, the plane then bursts into flames before rolling off onto its roof and somehow everyone on board survived. Delta says that two of the 21 people injured remain in the hospital. Just this afternoon we got another update from airport officials as they begin this investigation. CNN's Paula Newton is live for us from New York. Paula, what did investigators reveal about what happened?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the bottom line is not much except to say that the investigation is well underway. And think about that, Boris. That plane will remain on that tarmac for the better part of the next 48 hours as at least 20 investigators from Canada but also officials with the FAA as well as a so called Go Team (ph) from Delta, all will be there on site looking at the fuselage as it remains there in Toronto. But you just pointed out there is a lot of video right now as well. The data recorder, the data recorder will be key here to really determine what was the altitude, what was the wind speed, the ground speed, all of these kinds of things as well, of course, is the communication with the control tower.

I want to point out that Deborah Flynn, who just gave a press conference there in Toronto, she is the lead at Toronto Airport, did indicate what I saw for myself about an hour before this happened at Toronto. They had had well over 20 inches of snow in the last week. Boris, there was snow blowing everywhere. Does that mean that that led to anything that we saw here? We're not sure. And at this hour, neither are investigators.

What is crucial here, though, is to determine that when they have these kinds of anomalies, these kinds of weather events, should that particular bombardier jet, that regional jet, be landing at that time in that wind speed. And it will give them so much more data and information so that they know when they have these extreme weather conditions, whether or not a plane like that needs to avoid that specific weather condition, that specific runway, whatever it happens to be.

Or, Boris, we can't exclude the fact that despite how dramatic the snow looks and you're looking at it now, that the weather didn't have anything to do with this, that this might have been something with the landing gear. Again, so many different questions here. We expect a preliminary report within a month.

SANCHEZ: Paula Newton, thank you so much for the update. This investigation obviously still in the very early stages, but videos from the ground and on the plane are providing some crucial insights as investigators work to figure out exactly what happened here. Here to break it down for CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. And Pete, as you watch these videos, I wonder what sticks out to you.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: They're so revealing and it'll be so key to investigators. You know, this is the video that was taken from one of the airplanes that was holding short of runway two, three here at Toronto Pearson International Airport. And you can see what looks like what would be called a stable approach coming down at a very steady rate of altitude. And then a big hit to the right main landing gear.

[14:05:02]

The right wing shears away and the plane rolls over 180 degrees onto its back.

Let's look frame by frame here. You can see here that the plane remains at mostly a steady attitude, meaning reference to the horizon. But what we don't really see is any sort of big change in the attitude. Typically at about this altitude, maybe about 30ft above the ground, is when you'd start a round out and a flare. So bringing the nose of the airplane up and sort of changing the attitudes of the airplane. So it's not like this, it's maybe at a bit more of an angle like this to really sort of cushion the sink rate that you saw in that approach.

Obviously that didn't really happen. And so now will be the big question for investigators. Why did that not happen? You see the landing gear on the right here hit first and that really took the brunt of this force, causing the right wing to rip away and for the airplane to continue tumbling down runway two, three there.

What is so interesting to me is that the post-crash fire happened really in a moment and it did not really linger on. Even though we heard from the fire chief at Toronto Pearson Airport, Todd Aitken that this was a little bit of hot spots here and there that they had to put out, but it wasn't something severe. And that could have really changed the outcome of this crash in such a huge way.

SANCHEZ: We heard Paula there talking about the weather that she experienced about an hour before this plane was landing. When you watch these videos, does anything signal to you that the weather may have played a role in this?

MUNTEAN: Let's just talk about what the pilots were looking at here. And this is a time that is so critical and your mind is working overtime making these corrections and calculations essentially by eyeball and feel. That's why pilots are so experienced and get paid what they paid. They get paid, it takes, you know, they can get their full year's pay in a couple moments of time, if that makes any sense.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

MUNTEAN: So what we're seeing here is the fact that the plane did not really nose up. And the question is, did the blowing snow here that you can sort of see in the distance make any sort of illusion for them, making it harder for them to perceive --

SANCHEZ: About where the ground was.

MUNTEAN: their depth worth of -- above the ground and to see the runway. And so did they get disoriented? And that will be a question for investigators.

Of course, the wind was really huge too. Let me just sort of page to the runway design here. They were landing on runway two, three here. So this is to the southwest. The wind was coming from 270. So that's straight out of the west at 27, gusting 35. So that's in knots. That's about 40 miles per hour. You can see this angle here. That's about a 40 degree angle. So it's not unheard of that airplanes can land in a crosswind like this, but it does make things a bit more challenging.

And so did the crosswind come into play here? The right wing was low, we saw in that impact image. That's the standard technique for coming into a crosswind and coming into land. But did that become a factor? And it's something that investigators will really begin to look at, at this very early stage. They always look at the airplane, the pilots and the environment. And the environment will be a big factor in this investigation.

SANCHEZ: And no doubt they'll also closely be watching some of these videos.

MUNTEAN: For sure.

SANCHEZ: How important are they in an investigation like this?

MUNTEAN: Every piece of video helps. And in an investigation like this, we so many more angles in 2025 because everyone's armed with a camera. Typically, you will not see a camera out in the flight deck of a commercial airliner. But this video is very telling and will be key for investigators as they begin to piece this together.

And then we've seen the closed circuit television video from the ground. This was from TMZ earlier. And you can see the sink right there, the impact on the right main landing gear and the right wing breakaway.

So all of this will be essentially brought together by a composite as investigators go through this to really sort of piece this together frame by frame. They will do the work to sort of sync this up and make it so that they can build a narrative as they try to put together the preliminary report and then probably a final report in a year's time.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we look forward to getting those answers. Pete Muntean, thanks so much for the reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: For more on all of this, I want to bring in Sara Nelson. She's the President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Sara, you actually had two members of your union on that plane. What can you tell us about them and their conditions?

SARA NELSON, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS-CWA: So two working flight attendants on that plane and members of the association of flight attendants. And they perform their work perfectly as aviation's first responders. This is the reason that we are on the plane, is to evacuate passengers from a crash landing like this safely. And they did that. All 80 people.

Now, they did their jobs perfectly. We are getting support right around them. They are okay. But it is not a normal day to land upside down and to find yourself in a position of getting everyone off of a burning aircraft. So we're going to have a lot of support around them to make sure that they are okay holistically.

[14:10:03]

KEILAR: Yeah. Can you talk about that? Because I spoke with a survivor yesterday of this, and I mean, he was just visibly shaken. And these folks that we're talking about, the flight attendants, they're the last ones off the plane.

NELSON: That's right. They do a sweep to make sure that everyone is off the plane and that it is a difficult job, but this is what we're trained for. And I have gotten reports from hundreds of briefings following critical incidents where flight attendants say, wow, that training really kicked in because this is not a normal day. Aviation is the safest form of transportation in the world, and that's because of the safety professionals who are doing their work in all parts of aviation. But when this happens, that training kicks in while passengers are oftentimes in shock. And they need those strong instructions from the flight attendants in order to do what they need to do, to get off the plane.

And it was brought up that that fire could have been much worse. That could engulf the plane in about 90 seconds. And that's why we're trained to get people off in that amount of time. And that training kicks in to get people in motion. But after the fact, then flight attendants have to put up with what they just went through.

Yeah.

KEILAR: Yeah. So, Sara, can you tell us, because normally when we see a situation where there's had to be an emergency exit from a plane, there are inflatable slides. I don't know if that changes if the plane lands upside down or if that's something the flight attendants actually have to manually make sure they don't go off. Can you give us some insight into that?

NELSON: Well, it would depend on the aircraft. And so not all aircrafts have slide, but certainly they're not designed to work upside down. So that would not be an option for you in a situation like that. And the flight attendants would have to navigate around that. And in this case, that was not even part of the equation. So they weren't -- they didn't have to navigate with slides that would get in the way, but it also would not have been an option even if those slides were to deploy with an aircraft that is upside down.

KEILAR: Their actions, unbelievable. What a story. We don't often get to cover them where there is an ending with everyone surviving. It's amazing. Sara Nelson, thank you so much.

NELSON: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Top level U.S. and Russian officials meeting face to face for the first time in years. Details on the progress that was made in ending the war in Ukraine, despite Kyiv not being invited to these critical talks.

Plus, after weeks of Elon Musk talking about DOGE, the Trump administration says he's not actually an employee of the department, nor is he the administrator of the department. So what exactly is he? We'll ask the White House. That and much more coming up on CNN News Central.

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[14:17:24]

SANCHEZ: Today's face to face talks between top U.S. and Russian diplomats are in the books. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat directly across from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia as the two countries began negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion three years ago next week.

Notably, Ukraine had no seat at these high stakes talks as President Zelenskyy postponed a trip to Saudi Arabia that was set for later this week. He also made it clear his country would not accept any deal brokered, quote, behind our backs. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: You can talk about anything, but no decision can be made without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine. We were not invited to this meeting. The U.S.-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us as well as for many. I care about what our partners think about us. We are completely honest and open.

I don't want any coincidences. That's why I'm not going to Saudi Arabia. We contacted our partners in Saudi Arabia. I have very good relations with his Royal Highness Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We agreed that I will have an official visit on March 10th. We expect the U.S. delegation in Kyiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by William Taylor, a Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. I want to get your reaction to one of the key initial agreements, the U.S. and Russia agreeing to reestablish their respective diplomatic missions. Do you read that as a concession by either side?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Well, I don't. That's not a concession that I worry about. It's fine to have conversations between officials and the two governments. We haven't had that up until now. It's true. So this is a change.

But if they're serious, if they've gotten -- if the Trump administration has gotten President Putin to the table willing to have serious negotiations, and we don't know that he's ready to have serious negotiations, but he's -- but he's at least at the table, which is going to be the hard thing, and the Trump administration has gotten him there, then having embassies in both capitals makes sense.

SANCHEZ: We've heard President Zelenskyy suggest that Ukraine may turn down a deal negotiated on its behalf as if it doesn't produce the results that Kyiv is looking for. What options would Zelenskyy have if a deal brokered this way doesn't meet his demands?

TAYLOR: Well, first of all, they're not going to be any deals brokered this week.

[14:20:01]

I don't think, Boris. I think this is just an initial step to establish some things having to do with the bilateral relationships, but then also having to do with the next steps on this agreement between the United States and Russia and Ukraine. That didn't happen. Of course they can't do it. I mean, President Zelenskyy is, of course, right. They can't have conversations or agree -- come to any agreements about a ceasefire or anything having to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine without the Ukrainians. And all American officials have said exactly that. So that's not going on.

But the second thing is this is just the next step. The next step will be clearly for Ukrainians to have a seat. But interestingly enough, Boris, when you ask what would President Zelenskyy do, he's already given some indication of what he would do if it's a bad deal.

He was presented with a document that had to do with the economic sharing of the strategic minerals and rare earth, and he said no. He can walk away. I mean, he can say no to the United States and with some great pain. United States is a big supporter of his. He understands that, but he's also not going to sign a bad deal.

SANCHEZ: So do you think that the statements coming from Zelenskyy and European leaders about feeling left out of this and not being invited, do you think that's been overblown?

TAYLOR: No, I think they're right to be concerned about being part of any discussion. This discussion today in Saudi Arabia was not a negotiation. As I say, I don't think --

SANCHEZ: Sure.

TAYLOR: -- it was a negotiation on anything substantive having to do with the agreement. That substantive conversation will come, and the Europeans will have to be there, and the Ukrainians will have to be there, and they're right to be interested in wanting to be in those conversations, and I am absolutely sure that they will be.

SANCHEZ: One key aspect of that future negotiation is likely the safeguards that Ukraine wants put in place. And European leaders have floated the idea of putting peacekeeping forces in Ukraine if there is an agreement. Something that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said would be unacceptable, specifically if they were troops from NATO countries present in Ukraine. Is there any alternative there?

TAYLOR: The alternative is to disregard what Lavrov says. The Russians don't get a vote. And don't get a vote in whether or not the West Europeans or the Americans or NATO provides a security guarantee to the Ukrainians. They don't get a vote. They do get a vote on the cease fire. There's no doubt about that. But they don't get a vote on the security guarantee.

They don't get a vote on whether Ukraine joins NATO by the way. That's not an issue for these conversations. That's a separate conversation between the Europeans and the Ukrainians with support from the Americans. That's a separate conversation. The Russians are not part of that conversation.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador William Taylor, appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still to come. Despite being front and center of DOGE, the White House says that Elon Musk is not the administrator nor an employee of that department. We'll speak to the White House about it next.

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[14:27:56]

SANCHEZ: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing a critical 24 hours as Governor Kathy Hochul weighs the unprecedented step of removing him from office. The Governor is holding crisis talks today and then tomorrow, a judge will hold a hearing on the Justice Department's controversial motion to dismiss the federal case against him.

KEILAR: This is connected to that corruption case that he's facing and the alleged quid pro quo he was offered by the Trump administration. Four top New York City officials recently resigned over Adams actions. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is with us now from New York. Gloria, tell us the details here.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, what I've heard from sources that are following these meetings and familiar with the planning that's gone into these meetings with the Governor today is that people are waiting to see what happens tomorrow at that court hearing that you mentioned, Brianna.

It is a significant step because it's going to be the first time we will be publicly hearing from Judge Dale Ho. He's the judge that's been overseeing this case, and he has called in the parties to appear tomorrow to essentially make their case. What's not yet clear to us is whether or not we're going to get any resolution tomorrow.

We know that there's been this directive from the Department of Justice to dismiss the charges, and we know that there is several people who have filed motions with the court to ask this judge to take a real close look at the request and essentially just really consider the circumstances here before he makes that decision.

In the background of all of this, you have the Mayor who has been saying that he has no plans to step down, even though several lawmakers here in the city have called for his resignation. He says he has no plans to go anywhere. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, (D) NEW YORK: I took a pledge to the flag of the United States of America,

MAN 1: All right.

ADAMS: I didn't take a flag to our party.

MAN #1: All right.

ADAMS: I took a pledge to the people of this city --

MAN #1: All right.

ADAMS: -- and I'm going to fight for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: The mayor is surrounded there by several clergy leaders here in the city. Some of them have put out a letter encouraging the governor to essentially take her time and not --

End