Summary
- FAA investigating Delta 767 incident with emergency slide detachment and airframe vibrations after takeoff.
- Crew made safe landing back at JFK, no injuries reported among 176 passengers and 7 crew members.
- The plane is over 33 years old and has been removed from service.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into an incident onboard a Delta 767 over New York. The aircraft’s emergency slide detached and airframe vibrations were reported immediately after takeoff before the plane made a safe landing.
Delta 767 emergency slide incident
On Friday, Delta Air Lines flight 520 from New York JFK International (JFK) to Los Angeles International (LAX) experienced a problem with its emergency slide soon after taking off. The flight – operated by a Boeing 767 – took off at 07:32 local time and was climbing when crew reported vibrations – the climb was stopped at FL190 and crew decided to land back at JFK, doing so safely approximately half an hour after takeoff.
Following an inspection on the ground, it was discovered that the plane had lost its right-side emergency slide. As the incident unfolded, crew reportedly received an indication on the flight deck “related to the right-wing emergency exit slide,” while cabin crew noted a “non-routine sound” emanating from the same area of the plane.
A Delta spokesperson commented,
“As nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, Delta flight crews enacted their extensive training and followed procedures to return to JFK. We appreciate their professionalism and our customers’ patience for the delay in their travels.”
Delta said that a total of 176 passengers and seven crew were onboard the aircraft, with no injuries reported. The FAA has released a preliminary statement on the incident, which doesn’t mention anything about the emergency slide, instead noting that “the crew reported a vibration.”
Did the slide accidentally inflate?
It’s too early to tell why exactly this incident happened, but one possibility is that the slide inadvertently inflated. Images of the plane on the ground show it missing an outer panel, which would have been ejected given the strong force of inflation. Simple Flying reported on this occurring with another Delta 767 last year, although in this instance it happened on the ground.
Related
How Do Emergency Slides Work On Airplanes?
A brief summary of one of the key safety features of airplanes.
Emergency slides are designed to inflate automatically when emergency doors are opened from the inside. However, there is also a manual mechanism that can be activated should they fail to deploy automatically. Doors also have a safety pin feature that disarms the slide, so there is the possibility crew failed to install this correctly before takeoff.
33-year-old 767
The affected aircraft is a Boeing 767-300, registered as N176DN, delivered to Delta in December 1990, making it over 33 years old. According to data from ch-aviation, the aircraft spent over two years in storage during the COVID pandemic before returning to service in September 2022. It had accumulated over 138,000 flight hours and 20,000 flight cycles as of December 2023.
The aircraft is configured with two cabin classes, seating up to 211 passengers – 36 in business and 175 in economy. The jet remains on the ground at the time of publication, and Delta confirmed it has been removed from service.
