Passenger on Toronto flight describes moment plane crashed

A passenger on the plane which flipped upside down during a landing in Toronto has described his experience on the flight.

Peter Koukov was aboard the CRJ900 aircraft - operated by Delta Air Lines' subsidiary Endeavor Air - from Minneapolis bound for Toronto yesterday morning.

The 28-year-old told Reuters he “didn’t know anything was wrong” until the aircraft “hit the ground”.

“To me, it didn't feel like there was anything out of the ordinary, and there was no announcement.

“Pretty much just, like, it hit the ground and then kind of, like, bounced and almost felt like we were, like, we were lifting off again, and we turned on our side, slid on our side for a little bit, and then ended upside down.”

Koukov said it was remarkable no-one lost their life.

Watch more coverage of the remarkable Toronto plane crash on TVNZ+

"It’s insane that everybody is alive, It’s crazy.”

Koukov, who is a professional skier and videographer, used his phone to film himself leaving the aircraft after the crash.

“It's pretty crazy, I feel like I stayed pretty calm. I didn't, like, scream or make any noises. And the girl sitting next to me, she's ex-military, so her and I were, like, both pretty chill.”

He said after finding themselves upside down during the crash, he and the woman who sat next to him both lowered themselves from their seat.

“We didn't talk the entire... entire flight, and we just both just hugged, like, a long, like, 10-second hug. And then we're, like, okay, like, what's next? Like, we need to get off this plane."

While passengers were leaving the aircraft, Koukov said it was “nice” to see people working together.

“As in, like, no one... no one held anyone back from, like, getting off the plane or, like, getting out of their seat or whatever. Like, no one was, like, 'I need to be first' or, like, whatever, you know? Everyone kind of, like, we got off the plane, like, pretty smoothly, it felt like.”

He added the moment will stick with him on his future flights.

"Every single time I'm on a plane and it's about to land there... for the rest of my life, there's no way that that moment doesn't come up, you know, there's no way."

Authorities this morning said just two people remain in hospital.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.