A Boeing 767 flight flown by Delta Air Lines lost its emergency slide on Friday, prompting it to return to New York shortly after takeoff, officials said.
Delta Air Lines Flight 520 had taken off from Kennedy International Airport in New York and was en route to Los Angeles when the crew discovered a problem with the plane's right emergency exit slide. Crew members detected an unusual sound near the wing, Delta Air Lines said.
The pilots notified air traffic controllers of the emergency and the plane returned to Kennedy and landed safely, the airline said.
After the plane landed, the plane's emergency slide « detached » from the plane, Delta Air Lines said. The plane was taken out of service and the airline said it would « thoroughly evaluate the aircraft ».
« Delta flight crews carried out their extensive training and followed procedures for returning to JFK, » the company said in a statement, adding that it would « fully cooperate » with recovery efforts and investigations.
It was unclear Saturday what caused the slide to snap or where it fell.
The Central Aviation Authority said on Friday it would investigate what happened.
The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 7:15 a.m., returned to the airport at 8:35 a.m. after its crew reported a « vibration, » the FAA said in a statement. 176 passengers disembarked and took another flight to Los Angeles.
Slides have previously fallen from airplanes while in mid-air. In July, an emergency slide off a United Airlines flight bumped into A house near O'Hare Airport in Chicago. In 2019, A slide from a Delta flight Fell in a yard in Massachusetts.
A Boeing spokeswoman on Friday referred inquiries about the plane that lost its slide to Delta Air Lines. That plane, a version of the Boeing 767, was manufactured in 1990.
