Another mid-flight mishap involving a Boeing plane forced a Los Angeles-bound flight to return to JFK International Airport in New York on Friday — this time because the Delta aircraft’s emergency slide fell off.
Delta Flight 520 departed JFK at around 7:30 a.m., but just an hour into the flight the plane’s emergency alarm sounded, and the crew discovered that they had lost the emergency slide, forcing the pilots to abandon the trip to L.A. and return to the Queens airport, the New York Post reported. The crew had also reported feeling a vibration at the time of the incident, according to the FAA.
Authorities were searching for the lost emergency slide as of Friday afternoon, according to the Post. Sources told the outlet that they believe the chute could be in Jamaica Bay, just west of JFK Airport. No injuries were reported from the incident, and the Boeing 767 again departed the airport at around 11:00 a.m.
Friday’s incident is yet another example of a Boeing plane being forced to land after losing part of its equipment mid-air. Earlier this month, a Southwest Boeing 737-800 was forced to make an emergency landing after “several passengers and flight attendants heard something loud hit the wing.” Video taken as the plane was landing showed that one of its engine covers had ripped off.
Scary moments for passengers on a Southwest flight from Denver to Houston when the engine cover ripped off during flight , forcing the plane to return to Denver Sunday morning. pic.twitter.com/BBpCBXpTsl
— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) April 7, 2024
In March, another Boeing 737-800 — this one flown by United Airlines — lost an external panel while it was in the air between San Francisco and Oregon. All of the flights with recent mishaps involving Boeing planes landed safely.
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Last month, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy testified before Congress and said that Boeing was refusing to cooperate on a separate investigation looking into a 25-member team that worked on a door plug that came off the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 earlier this year. Boeing said that it has “worked proactively and transparently” to support the NTSB investigation.