Here is title Boeing 737 Flap Lands in Raleigh Driveway.
Well, here’s a plot twist for you…
Delta Boeing 737 Loses Flap During Raleigh-Durham Descent
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is scratching their heads over a peculiar event that happened on a Tuesday flight, back on July 1, 2025. Delta flight DL3247, which took off from Atlanta (ATL) heading to Raleigh-Durham (RDU), had 115 passengers without a clue of what was about to unfold. This airborne journey was provided courtesy of a 12-year-old Boeing 737-900ER, sporting the snazzy registration code N940DU.
You’ve got to love routine flights that suddenly become anything but – this one, clocking in at 63 minutes, touched down at a bright and early 12:24 AM. Everything seemed peachy until someone stumbled upon something metal and quite out of place in their Raleigh driveway. After a flurry of phone calls, it was revealed that this mystery metal was actually the aircraft’s left wing trailing edge flap. Yes, it really did “evidently separate from the aircraft prior to its safe landing.”
The big question is: how does a piece of a plane go missing and no one notices? Turns out, it was just a fractional part of the flaps, and apparently, planes have a bag of tricks to deal with missing parts. Honestly, the fact that it was only spotted post-landing says it all.
Since then, our friendly neighborhood sky giant has been firmly grounded and counting time – almost 36 hours on the tarmac. Fun fact: this plane had a previous life with Indonesia’s Lion Air before it moved to Delta’s hangar in 2023.
These Incidents are Rare, But They Do Happen
A sprinkle of luck was thrown into the mix, as this hefty chunk of airplane plopped down on an empty driveway rather than, say, someone’s breakfast nook or noggin. Mercifully, no damages were reported apart from a startled couple of passersby.
Let’s face it, with a sky full of planes, something’s bound to go wrong now and then. Still, aircraft shedding parts is more of an eyebrow-raiser than a regular occurrence. Somewhere in aviation lore, there’s a bingo card featuring wheels, winglets, flap bits, and more.
Oh yes, roll back to early 2024, and the headlines spoke of a United Boeing 777 losing a wheel like it was going out of style, straight off the tarmac in San Francisco (SFO). This little escapade even managed to squash a couple of cars, but thankfully, nobody was hurt in the melodrama.
Bottom Line
Imagine waking up in Raleigh on a random Wednesday morning to find an aircraft part lounging in your driveway – that’s a breakfast story for the ages. What ensued was a flurry of reporting and realization that this giveaway belonged to a Delta Boeing 737, taking a scenic route over the house. The incident has piqued the authorities’ interest, as you might imagine.
So, what are your thoughts about this Delta 737 flap incident?