There were no casualties aboard the Delta flight that crashed and flipped upside down at the Toronto airport on Monday evening, which experts attribute to modern plane safety design. 

Investigation into the landing crash is still ongoing, but Sheldon H. Jacobson, professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with over 30 years of experience studying aviation safety and security, told the Washington Examiner the fact that all 80 people survived is more than being just a miracle. 

The plane involved in the crash was a Canadian Regional Jet model CRJ-900. Since 2005, there have been zero casualties in CRJ-900 jets in more than 100 accidents recorded, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s accident catalog.

“Airplanes are not just designed for efficiency, they are designed in the event of a highly unlikely  airplane crash,” Jacobson told the Washington Examiner. “Ultimately, the structure of the plane enabled all these people to survive. If that [the fuselage] had collapsed once it started to move down the runway on it upside down. I mean, we just would have crushed everybody.”

The fuselage can withstand up to several Gs of force, a measure of acceleration as it relates to the force of gravity, Jacobson said. 

But what really kept passengers safe was the design of the seats, which can withstand 16 times the force of gravity.  

“That is designed to keep passengers in their seats, buckled in, because if there is a sudden change of speed, then if you are not buckled in, you become a projectile,” Jacobson said. 

Another important aspect of the seat design is that it must be able to be pitched ten degrees on one side and roll ten degrees on the other side to absorb shock and sudden changes in acceleration. 

“You’re trying to absorb energy,” Jacobson said. “If it’s completely rigid, it’s more likely to snap, but when it has a little bit more give and take, it will flow a little bit more.”

In previous aircraft crashes, the FAA found rows of seating piled in front of the aircraft.

David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector, shared with CNN that the plane’s wings breaking off from the fuselage was part of the design to prevent the wings from destroying the aircraft. A similar plane crash occurred in 1987, killing 28 people after the wings stayed on.  

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“You don’t want that wing ripping the fuselage in half,” Soucie told CNN. “You want to make sure that it breaks away as it’s supposed to let that aircraft slowly come to a stop, and that really saved a lot of lives.”

The Toronto plane crash marks the fourth major air crash in North America in less than a month.