On December 1st 2019, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-300 was on approach to Boston Logan International Airport, headed for runway 04R, when an escape slide detached from the aircraft.
Registered N1607B, the 20 year old aircraft was performing flight DL-405 from Paris Charles de Gaulle when the incident occurred. The pilots reported a loud noise, however with no indication of what happened continued for a safe landing two minutes later.
After taxiing to the gate under its own power, ground workers identified the right over wing emergency escape slide was missing.
Milton police received an emergency call at 12:11 local time, they responded to the scene of the emergency escape slide in the front yard of a persons house.
Deputy Chief of Milton Police, James O’Neil, said the homeowner was outside talking to his neighbour when a loud noise was heard and the slide landed in their garden.
Another witness, Amy Caldwell, saw the slide falling from the sky whilst driving along the incident street, she said it looked like a trash bag; she was unsure of where the object landed at first, however her daughter said it looked like a “big grey bouncy house.”
As a result of the incident, police notified the Massachusetts State Police at Boston Logan International Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Delta Air Lines has since removed the escape slide from the property, they have also launched an investigation to determine the cause of the rather serious incident.
This is not the first time something has fallen from an aircraft over Milton. In 2010 a 16 year old male was found dead in Milton after falling from the wheel well of a 737, where police believe he hid as a stowaway.
Boeing has directed all questions relating to the incident to Delta Air Lines, after they were contacted by multiple media sources.
Cover photo by Dura-Ace via Wikimedia Commons.
Information sources from The Aviation Herald and the Boston Globe.