[Chad C. Mulligan]

The emergency slides are inside the doors/hatches, so they couldn’t “fall off” in the air.

[T.B. Yoits]

The emergency slides are inside the doors/hatches, so they couldn’t “fall off” in the air.

Chicago 2023:

Boston 2019:

Mesa Arizona 2016:

[T.B. Yoits]

I wonder if it was an "overwing" deployment emergency slide.

This picture shows a slide that's to the rear of the emergency hatch. Passengers would exit the emergency hatch over the wing, walk on the slide to the edge of the wing, and then slide down.

[ponygirl]

The slide that fell off was the right wing emergency exit slide, located on the wing outside the window emergency exit. Pretty big deal, actually, and it has happened before.

[Drago]

It was the right over wing slide...contained behind a external skin panel. Deployed when emergency exit door is opened or can be “manually deployed”...33 year old plane, possible maintenance issue/electrical gremlin or someone “pushed the button”:

https://x.com/aviationbrk/status/1783909346935501154

https://simpleflying.com/faa-investigating-delta-airlines-boeing-767-emergency-slide-falls-off/