Delta airplane wing part plummets onto NC driveway mid-flight
A flap from a Delta Airlines plane plummeted from the sky and onto a driveway in North Carolina early Wednesday morning.
3 A flap from a Delta Airlines plane fell off mid-flight and landed onto a driveway in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Atlanta News First
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.
3 The wing part just missed the Tar Heels' car in their driveway.
Atlanta News First
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.
3 The crew aboard the flight didn't notice the flap was missing until they landed.
AFP via Getty Images
Last year, one Delta airplane also lost an emergency slide after it fell out of the plane mid-flight, when it wasn't even needed.
The slide later bizarrely turned up in front of a beach house owned by a lawyer who happened to work at the very firm suing Boeing over repeated safety issues.
In September, a small plane's door was blown off its hinges shortly after takeoff. No one was injured, and the plane was able to land safely.
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