Delta’s wholly owned regional subsidiary is making headlines again, after a plane had a rather scary landing during gusty winds…
In this post:
Endeavor Air CRJ-900 has wing strike during landing attempt
This incident happened on Sunday, March 16, 2025, and involves a flight operated by Delta’s wholly owned regional subsidiary, Endeavor Air (where flights are marketed as Delta Connection). Specifically, we’re talking about flight DL4814, from Jacksonville (JAX) to New York LaGuardia (LGA), which had a total of 80 passengers and crew onboard. The flight was operated by a 17-year-old CRJ-900 with the registration code N185GJ.
The aircraft came in to land on runway 22. Weather conditions weren’t good at all, with winds at the time reported as being at 22 knots, and gusting to 36 knots. Not only that, but there was quite a crosswind, as wind was blowing at a direction 40 degrees off the runway heading.
While attempting to land at around 10:10PM local time, the aircraft performed a go around, which is a standard procedure. What makes this noteworthy is that the air traffic controller advised the pilots that “somebody saw some sparks from one of your wings,” and asked “you guys feel anything?” One of the pilots simply responded with “we didn’t, but we’ll check it.”
Following the go around, the aircraft positioned for another approach, and landed safely around 20 minutes later, after a total flight time of around 2hr5min.
VASAviation has an excellent video with the air traffic control audio and a visualization of what happened, and that provides a further clue. During that first go around, a voice can be heard transmitting on the frequency that “I got it, I have, I have the aircraft.”
That suggests that the first officer was the one flying the segment and was supposed to perform the landing, and then the captain took control of the aircraft, as is common when a situation gets serious.
Over 36 hours after arriving in New York, the aircraft is still on the ground at LaGuardia, and hasn’t yet operated another flight. It remains to be seen how substantial the damage is. The FAA is investigating this incident, and has confirmed that the aircraft’s left wing struck the runway while landing.
Delta has issued the following statement:
“The Endeavor Air flight crew followed established procedures to safely enact a go-around at New York-LaGuardia. The aircraft landed safely and proceeded to its arrival gate. We apologize to our customers for the experience.”
Obviously the optics of this aren’t good
I don’t necessarily view this incident as being a huge deal. With the number of flights operating daily, things often do go wrong, and fortunately they end without injuries or fatalities in a vast majority of situations. However, given that this has been reported on all kinds of national news outlets, I figure it’s worth covering a few points:
- It’ll be interesting to see what an investigation reveals into what happened; more immediately, it’ll be telling when this plane reenters service, and if there’s any structural damage
- Obviously this is getting more attention because it’s an Endeavor Air CRJ-900, the same plane that was involved in the Toronto Airport crash several weeks back, and the optics of that aren’t great
- If anything, all of these incidents speak highly for how well built the CRJ-900 is, and just how much the aircraft can withstand, while keeping everyone safe
We don’t yet know what happened here, and to what extent pilot error was to blame. As I’ve written about before, the airline industry definitely has a “juniority” problem, especially at regional airlines. Pilots just aren’t as experienced as they were pre-pandemic. That’s not due to any DEI initiatives, but rather it’s simply because of the number of pilot retirements we saw at the start of the pandemic, plus the fast travel rebound. I’m not saying that was a factor here, but rather am just pointing out that lack of experience and DEI aren’t the same.
Bottom line
A Delta Connection CRJ-900 operated by Endeavor Air had a scary landing at LaGuardia, as the plane’s left wing struck the runway during an attempted landing. The plane ended up performing a go around, and landed without incident 20 minutes later. However, the plane has been on the ground ever since.
This incident is now being investigated. More than anything, the optics here aren’t great, given that this is the same regional carrier and aircraft as the Toronto incident several weeks back.
What do you make of this Endeavor Air CRJ-900 incident?
Given the following: Endeavor Airline publicly committed to DEI wokeness affirmative action hiring practices AND a prior incident involving same airline, female pilot within a few weeks; my conclusion is that Endeavor Airlines has hired sub-par, unqualified pilots and should not be trusted with transporting myself or my valuable cargo (family). Sorry, this isn't a business where you get do-overs. Boycott Endeavor.
They were very lucky to hit the ground with one wing and not flip over like the other aircraft in Toronto. @Lucky you said "I don’t necessarily view this incident as being a huge deal". Really? Hitting the ground with one wing is not serious? In my opinion a routine go-around for an unstable approach would be a somewhat notmal... this, pretty bad. I believe this is a pretty serious incident that will likely will...
They were very lucky to hit the ground with one wing and not flip over like the other aircraft in Toronto. @Lucky you said "I don’t necessarily view this incident as being a huge deal". Really? Hitting the ground with one wing is not serious? In my opinion a routine go-around for an unstable approach would be a somewhat notmal... this, pretty bad. I believe this is a pretty serious incident that will likely will result in some retraining. Please don't let the circumstances cloud your judgment.
At least the toilets were working!!!!
Another day, another near disaster in the Democratic People’s Republic of Trumpstan and Elonia
Nice article revision once radio comms made it clear there was a transfer of controls.
This is pretty bad for Endeavor - twice in two months.
Another female pilot. But, of course this accident has nothing to do with DEI or gender, right? Anyone who questions is a bigot and a misogynist! Just get on the plane with your family and shut up!
Brian
You are absolutely correct. Anyone who assumes gender/DEI as the cause of this incident is a bigot and misognist.
Ben,
My sense is that with some of these recent high profile weather-related events (as many seem to be) and all of the attention on them by the media that (like school closing at the first sign of snow) Airlines might be quicker to cancel flights?
thoughts?
47 will make DL and all its subsidiaries great again.
This administration made massive cuts to FAA resources.
I don't think that has anything to do with this. The media is just now reporting on every single aviation incident because it gets views and clicks.
This was pilot error. Stop trying to blame Trump for Obama and Biden’s policies, which we have been seeing for the past couple of years now.
Cost of living getting so bad even the planes are striking
I flew into JFK that same night. Weather was really bad - one of the bumpiest rides I've had in a long, long time. On top of that, we also had to circle JFK for about an hour; that was not fun. I was fully prepared for a go-around with how much we were staying on approach. The pilots were visibly exhausted when they thanked everyone as we disembarked.
Beyond being the same plane and airline, the Toronto crash also occurred in poor, windy weather. Depending on how both investigators ultimately pan out, I wonder if Delta and/or Endeavor adopt a more conservative go-around policy in the future.
One thing is for sure: the CRJ-900 is a very tough and safe plane!
**both investigations, not “investigators”
the CRJ 900 wing is probably closer to the ground than any other commercial aircraft which makes it more susceptible to ground strikes - whether in this incident or the YYZ accident.
this is just part of a Truly Premium Experience™. the passengers are lucky to be able to experience it