Posted on 07/02/2025 8:03:07 PM PDT by lowbridge
The sky is falling!
A flap from a Delta Airlines plane plummeted from the sky and onto a driveway in North Carolina early Wednesday morning.
The fragment found in a residential Raleigh neighborhood splintered off a Boeing 737 flight from Atlanta to Raleigh-Durham International Airport that had been delayed Tuesday evening due to a thunderstorm in Georgia, according to a spokesperson for Delta.
The flap, which was “evidently separated” from the left wing, didn’t impede the aircraft’s “safe landing” in Raleigh-Durham, the spokesperson wrote.
It landed smack dab in the middle of one unlucky Tar Heel’s driveway, just a few yards away from their car.
Still, the six crew members tending to the 109 customers aboard the flight didn’t realize they’d lost the piece of precious cargo until they landed around 1:15 a.m.
“After the aircraft landed safely, it was observed that a portion of the left wing’s trailing edge flap was not in place. Delta is fully supporting retrieval efforts and will cooperate with investigations as nothing is more important than safety,” the spokesperson wrote.
Trailing edge flaps are used during takeoff and landing to help the plane slow down and maintain altitude, according to NASA. Passengers lucky enough to nab the coveted window seats near the wings typically have the perfect view of the flaps in action.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
If it’s Boeing ....
Why “unlucky”?
Missed the house, the car and people….and the neighbors have something to talk about for the next few weeks instead of the weather, their ailments and politics.
If it’s Boeing, it will go boing!
It hit the unlucky driveway.
Sound pretty lucky to me. Didn't hit the car. Didn't hit the house. Didn't hit them.
But Delta should remove the flaps from their other 737s. The part obviously not needed for safe flight and landing.
At least they use them. Air India didn’t.
Better outcome than the recent Japanese 737. But at least that carrier gave the passengers enough money to buy new underwear.
It does seem that extending flaps for landing would cause a little asymmetry if a flap on one side was missing.
Maybe Delta should upgrade to the 320 family.
C’mon, man. Stick with Boeing. Airbus is European faygs.
” Piece of Delta airplane wing plummets onto NC driveway mid-flight — and crew had no idea until they landed. “
That’s what you call going on a wing and a prayer.
The pilots were winging it when the piece fell off.
No one made a flap of it until they landed.
Coming back from JAX once. I was on the wing. AA 727. Port engine smoked and got in the cab. Just enough for us to smell it for a little bit. Thought I was going to die.
It is not safe to ride on the wing.
This could have been one of those Delta “unmanned cockpit” flights, and the all female crew may have been too busy making tik tok videos to notice the plane was falling apart. At least it landed right side up, so I could be wrong.
Didn’t have a choice. Have not flown since. Used to meet some interesting people on those flights.
Don’t hunt Wyo anymore due to cwd. And AA never shipped meat like I wanted.
Actually could not ship meat on AA.
So other people were flying on the wing with you?
I hope y’all were all holding on real tight!
I live exactly 8 miles from the end of a major airport runway. Planes are 1800-2000’ feet above me when they pass directly over my house. Some part (wing, fuselage, etc) of the majority of planes are directly above as they pass.
About 4 years ago an emergency slide fell into a neighborhood about 1 1/2 miles from me. Landed in the front yard of a house. Mostly rubber but enough metal framework to kill someone.
On an average day I must have 100+ large jets go over my house, both landing and taking off. I have lived here 10+ years.
I’m waiting.......
I would move. Lived near Carswell AFB in the 80s (now a jrb Ft. WORTH). It got loud.
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