OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:32 AM – Wednesday, January 24, 2024
After a concerning run of mishaps involving its aircraft, a Delta Air Lines’ Boeing 757 lost a nose wheel as it was getting ready to take off from Atlanta, Georgia, raising additional questions about one of the country’s leading manufacturers.
At around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, Delta Flight 982, which was traveling to Bogota, Colombia, was taxiing out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when the incident occurred. The Federal Aviation Administration is now conducting an investigation into the incident.
“All customers and their bags were removed from the aircraft, transferred to the gate, and onto a replacement aircraft,” Delta said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
A Delta representative confirmed to The Associated Press that no injuries were sustained and that the aircraft was re-tired and put back into service the following day.
Two pilots, four flight attendants, and 172 passengers were on board the aircraft, according to the Atlanta airline.
The aircraft manufacturer, located in Arlington, Virginia, stopped producing the 757 about two decades ago.
Many incidents involving Boeing aircrafts have occurred in recent years, including two Max 8 accidents in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019, which claimed the lives of 346 people in total.
An Alaska Boeing 737 Max 9 airplane was also destroyed earlier this month after a door stopper broke off the aircraft 16,000 feet over Oregon, leaving a massive hole in the side of the aircraft. Since then, a number of other Max 9 aircrafts have been reported to have loose bolts and other issues with their panel doors by United and Alaska Airlines.
Dave Calhoun, the CEO of Boeing, met with legislators in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to discuss the safety of the Max 9. Calhoun’s trip to Washington on Wednesday was preceded by severe criticism of Boeing from both inside and outside the aviation sector, as well as ongoing probes by regulators.
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