Emergency slide deployed inside Delta aircraft on flight to LA – NBC Los Angeles
Passengers aboard a Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles were surprised Saturday when an inflatable emergency slide was deployed inside the plane during an unscheduled landing in Salt Lake City.
The flight from John F. Kennedy Airport to Los Angeles International Airport with 168 passengers was diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport due to a maintenance issue. The Boeing 767-300 was on the ground when the emergency slide accidentally deployed, Delta said in a statement.
The airline said the unplanned landing was not due to the slide.
“First time I see an emergency slide accidentally deployed INSIDE the plane,”[ads1]; one passenger tweeted with a photo of the deployed slide blocking the aisle of the aircraft.
One crew member was taken to a hospital for evaluation and was later released, Delta said in the statement. Details of what prompted the deployment were not immediately available.
Passengers were transferred to another flight for the final leg of their journey to Los Angeles. The plane landed Saturday night at LAX.
The slides are designed to quickly deploy and inflate in an emergency, allowing passengers to exit the aircraft during an evacuation. They are packaged and stored inside commercial aircraft doors or fuselages and are automatically triggered when an aircraft door is opened in the armed position.
In March, a Delta passenger was arrested at LAX after opening an emergency exit door aboard the plane, causing the emergency slide to activate. The plane pushed back from the gate as the man opened the door.
