Delta 767 Return to JFK After Slide Separates in Flight

[MichaelKPIT]

A Delta Air Lines flight that departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City was forced to make an emergency return to the airport Friday morning after an emergency slide came apart from the Boeing 767, the airline said. A search for the slide was ongoing.

Full story here: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1247454971/delta-airlines-boeing-plane-emergency-jfk

[AnotherFSO]

I can't understand why it happened around the time of take-off rather than when getting closer to landing. Because as we all know:

"You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away"

[mguerreiro]

A United flight landing at O'Hare in July 2023 lost a slide also another Delta flight heading for Logan in 2019. In both cases, the slides separated from the aircraft before landing.

Delta Logan 2019

United O'Hare July 2023

[MechEngr]

Dibs.

[visibility3miles]

Perhaps Amtrak will use this in ads for taking the train between NY and Boston.

Travel from your door to your destination is about as fast, they don’t charge extra for a second piece of luggage, and parts don’t fall off.

[MarcK]

"Time to spare?, go by air!"

[tdracer]

It's probably worth noting that - while not common place - losing a slide in flight isn't particularly rare either. I used to see 21.3 reports maybe once or twice a year regarding slide losses.
IIRC, the most common reason is some mis-rigging causes the slide to deploy with the various vibrations and such of flight (especially in turbulence).

[oceancrosser]

Does happen to 757/767s with wing slides (Overwing exit equipped a/c).

[matkat]

I was working in Jeddah early 90s lost a slide during climb, fell into the desert never was found as far as I know. B747.

[flypaddy]

I can’t get my head around this. The slide bustle is inside the aircraft. How on earth does it fall out without the door opening?

[Terrey]

Flypaddy

The 767 overwing slide comes out of a separate door (cover) in the fuselage below the exit. Quite possible for this cover to come open without the overwing exit opening.

[oceancrosser]

767 wing slide deploying:
https://youtu.be/ErVmCEESpKg?si=k9yY2ZAvHreXcubd

And some more background here:

https://youtu.be/0wH6lBVHtrY?si=661_pqOKERX56Efs

[212man]

A United flight landing at O'Hare in July 2023 lost a slide also another Delta flight heading for Logan in 2019. In both cases, the slides separated from the aircraft before landing.

Delta Logan 2019

United O'Hare July 2023
as a general rule of thumb, anytime you are airborne is ‘before landing’.

[flypaddy]

Thanks for the information Terrey & Oceancrosser.

[Peristatos]

https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/business/missing-emergency-slide-that-fell-off-delta-flight-found-washed-up-in-front-of-house-of-lawyer-whose-firm-is-suing-boeing/

The emergency slide that fell off a Delta flight departing from JFK Airport on Friday was found two days later — washed up in front of the beachside house of a lawyer whose firm happens to be suing Boeing over safety issues, The Post has learned.

[MechEngr]

“My neighbor called the FAA hotline and they are closed on Sundays,” Bissell-Linsk said. “So he just called Delta.”

Ah, yes. The adequate funding for the FAA. Per https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/ND/1070.1.pdf (FAA document dated 2000)

​​​​​​​8. PROCEDURES. These procedures apply to the Administrator's and Consumer Hotlines. a. FAA employees may contact the Administrator's Hotline by calling 202-267-9532. Consumers may contact the Consumer Hotline by calling 1-800-322-7873 or by accessing the FAA web site. The normal hours of operation for the Hotline Operations Program are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. After 4 p.m., callers may leave voice mail messages and request return calls on the next business day.

[Sailvi767]

https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/business/missing-emergency-slide-that-fell-off-delta-flight-found-washed-up-in-front-of-house-of-lawyer-whose-firm-is-suing-boeing/

The Attorney added that when they initially saw the slide they could only assume a large airline crash had occurred. They were unsure if any relatives were flying at the time but had to assume the worst. His wife became almost comatose with the worry involved and required medical care. She is now suffering from PTSD and a violent fear of flying on airliners. It’s so bad the attorney said it’s doubtful if she will ever be able to fly a scheduled airline again and will almost certainly require private jet travel at the G650 level or comparable for all future travel needs. He fully expects Delta to cover this unnecessary expense they have created and if negotiations are not successful will file a lawsuit against Delta.





[MechEngr]

The other shoe is that planes depart over their beach house. Just a toe in the water to file a class action for every person under the flight path of any commercial airline.

[albatross]

[The Attorney added that when they initially saw the slide they could only assume a large airline crash had occurred. They were unsure if any relatives were flying at the time but had to assume the worst. His wife became almost comatose with the worry involved and required medical care. She is now suffering from PTSD and a violent fear of flying on airliners. It’s so bad the attorney said it’s doubtful if she will ever be able to fly a scheduled airline again and will almost certainly require private jet travel at the G650 level or comparable for all future travel needs. He fully expects Delta to cover this unnecessary expense they have created and if negotiations are not successful will file a lawsuit against Delta.]
Spoiler

Bit of an overreaction on the part of the Lawyer and his comatose wife.
Find something, assume an aircraft has crashed and then have a major meltdown even though you do not know if any relation is even flying?
I think there were some pre-existing mental issues.
“Had to assume the worst” Why?
Blinded from reality by the bright flashing $$$$$ signs perhaps?

[BFSGrad]

N176DN flew from KJFK to KATL early this morning, cruising at 28,000 ft. Likely non-revenue based on flight number.

[BoeingDriver99]

Hey guys; this is no biggie. Just another airframe malfunction issue from Boeing. Happens all the time. Nothing to worry about. I’m sure everything is totally sorted inside of Boeing right now. :8

A quick Google doesn’t reveal the same issues occurring with any other manufacturers but I sit to be corrected.

I wonder - and this is purely a hypothetical thought - was the door partially armed inadvertently by some passenger fiddling that was never noticed by the crew and allowed the mechanism to be partially primed for an inadvertent deployment due to constant turbulence/vibrations over time?

[tdracer]

[
Bit of an overreaction on the part of the Lawyer and his comatose wife.
Find something, assume an aircraft has crashed and then have a major meltdown even though you do not know if any relation is even flying?
I think there were some pre-existing mental issues.
“Had to assume the worst” Why?
Blinded from reality by the bright flashing $$$$$ signs perhaps?

If I was a judge, I'd assume that particular lawyer's credibility was zero and treat anything he says accordingly.

[WillowRun 6-3]

"We haven’t decided if the slide is relevant to our case,” Bissell-Linsk said.

The attorney is one who filed suit against Boeing arising from the Alaska 1282 door plug incident.

Good luck to this Counselor if suit arising from the slide separation incident is filed in federal district court. State court procedural rules sometimes can be more, uh, tolerant, but in U.S.D.C., the exposure to a motion for sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 for frivolous cases and legal positions can be and often is a powerful force.

It would be a preposterous case to bring. If I wore the black robe and sat on the bench in a United States District Court, on the facts reported so far, I think I'd be not inclined to grant Rule 11 sanctions for filing a nonsense lawsuit - I'd be strongly inclined to grant such a motion.

Good lord, Counselor, splash some cold water on your face and get a clue.

[AirbusPilotUK]

Surely this one genuinely is just bad luck though?

[albatross]

If I was a judge, I'd assume that particular lawyer's credibility was zero and treat anything he says accordingly.

If I was Delta…I would offer a 1965 Cessna 150 and free flying lessons.

[Winemaker]

Hey guys; this is no biggie. Just another airframe malfunction issue from Boeing. Happens all the time. Nothing to worry about. I’m sure everything is totally sorted inside of Boeing right now. :8

A quick Google doesn’t reveal the same issues occurring with any other manufacturers but I sit to be corrected.

I wonder - and this is purely a hypothetical thought - was the door partially armed inadvertently by some passenger fiddling that was never noticed by the crew and allowed the mechanism to be partially primed for an inadvertent deployment due to constant turbulence/vibrations over time?
Passengers don't have any role in arming doors. The window doors are just there, and the others are armed by the flight crew. About the only thing a passenger could do is open the door. As noted above, this was not an aircraft door that opened, it was a wing slide that is external to the aircraft cabin.

[The Golden Rivet]

Ahh the Boeing 767 over wing slide, what fun they were to work on . So for the people wanting some extra knowledge here’s how they work:

- big bottle of nitrogen pre-charged and in the wheel well if I can remember.

- when any movement of the over wing plugs happens, the system activates which you can see in the video, pyros (small explosive) activate pushing a horn on the ground spoilers so that they blow down, the bottle releases the gas into the slide which has unlocked it self, then it inflates. Wooshka lollies and shark dye for everyone.

What a bitch if you accidentally set one off doing a pressure run and leak check of the plug doors , don’t ask how I know…………..

[vegassun]

I watched MX activate one down on the ramp intentionally one time (it had fallen off door). It fully inflated like right now, I bet it took < 2 seconds!

[BoeingDriver99]

If I was a judge, I'd assume that particular lawyer's credibility was zero and treat anything he says accordingly.

And if I was a non-corrupt Regulatory Authority I’d assume any Boeing engineer’s credibility was zero and treat anything they produced in the last decade and anything they said accordingly.

Once again; nothing to see here - slides pop out the side of the aircraft all the time 🤣

*Boeings not aircraft. My mistake.

[tdracer]

And if I was a non-corrupt Regulatory Authority I’d assume any Boeing engineer’s credibility was zero and treat anything they produced in the last decade and anything they said accordingly.

You do realize that I could easily consider that a personal insult...

[EEngr]

Hey guys; this is no biggie. Just another airframe malfunction issue from Boeing.

The second video in oceancrosser's post #12 seems to show how this could easily be a maintenance mistake. Slide compartment door not fully closed and latched. And it just pops open when it catches some wind on takeoff.

Sure, Boeing could have made a more foolproof latch. But at the expense of more fiddly little parts that could go wrong. At some point, one has to put some faith in the training of the people that are supposed to close this thing.