Delta Air Lines passengers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently got more thrills than they paid for with their ticket. Not only did the wheels on the left side of the plane explode and catch fire at touch-down, they got to use those inflatable emergency slides to get out.
Delta passengers slide out
It’s being reported that Delta Air Lines had a teeny, tiny mishap with one of their planes Wednesday night, August 2.
The Boeing 757 was landing at Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when “the plane’s left main gear tires blew and caught fire,” the FAA’s initial incident report notes. The Federal Aviation Administration will have more after the technicians at the National Transportation Safety Board get done going over all the parts and pieces with their microscopes.
Delta admits that the flight’s tires popped and “components of the landing gear were hot.” Since they burst into flames, they were more than warm, that’s for certain. The company was proud to announce that “190 passengers were evacuated using emergency slides.”
Delta Airlines Boeing 757 was evacuated at Atlanta International Airport this morning due to a tire bursting upon landing. pic.twitter.com/YY18eL3r5x
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) August 3, 2023
They did report one injury, though they don’t say if the passenger was injured during the landing or the evacuation. They won’t be saying much about that until their lawyers get done wrangling over it.
According to the statement issued by those same lawyers for Delta, they “appreciate the efforts of our flight crew and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport first responders to manage through the safe landing of flight 1437.” They also “apologized for the incident,” noting “nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and crew.”
You can rest assured they’re looking into what happened and why. It’s more likely a part failure other than a tire, unless the tire was defective. They get inspected for wear and changed out a lot more regularly than most people maintain the ones on their cars. If wear does turn out to be the cause, they’ll be hiring a whole new crew of maintenance techs and inspectors real soon.
Customers all connected
The affected flight, Delta informs, was the regularly scheduled one in from Richmond, Virginia. It flew into Atlanta around 6 p.m. as normal and everything was fine until the plane touched down on the runway. That’s when something caused a sudden blowout on the left landing gear.
The sparks, heat and leaking fluids instantly burst into flames, making the sight a spectacle for bored passengers looking out the windows of the gates. That’s not real reassuring to watch as the loudspeaker starts announcing boarding time for your flight.
The plane was “safely moved from the runway just before 11 p.m.,” Delta assures. It did take a while to get 190 people down those inflatable emergency slides but they’re happy to relate that “customers were able to make connecting flights Wednesday night or Thursday morning.”
The left main gear tire blew when the plane made a hard landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the FAA said in a statement. https://t.co/QFZ5O8uSHZ
— ABC News (@ABC) August 3, 2023
The FAA notes that they’ll be investigating but really don’t see where it will be “impacting air traffic operations.”
Even though the NTSB will get to the exact cause and who was responsible by the time they get done with their expert probe, with the FAA looking over their shoulder to see if there are any violations they can fine someone for, Delta promises they’ll get to the bottom of it.
They swear they’ll “also conduct its own review of the flight” and likewise, work with “all aviation stakeholders.” They’re hoping to blame the incident on a bad tire and not an improperly installed part on the landing gear or a tire that should have flunked an inspection. They’re also hoping the final NTSB report on that doesn’t come out before all the suits are settled.
