Delta flight bound for LAX from JFK makes emergency landing moments before plane’s slide deploys, injuring crew member.
A Delta flight from JFK to Los Angeles on Saturday made an unscheduled landing in Utah due to technical difficulties — only to have an air slide accidentally deploy inside the plane once it was on the ground.
A crew member was hit unexpectedly by the “exploding” air slide and taken to the hospital.
The B767-300 was en route to LAX from JFK with 168 passengers aboard when the aircraft’s pilot announced that the plane would need to land in Salt Lake City due to technical difficulties.
A backup system’s temperature instrument was on the fritz that was needed for icing conditions, the captain said.
The flight, which left NYC after 7 a.m., landed without incident, and passengers were asked to deplane.
After a delay, the temperature instrument was fixed and the plane was — seemingly — ready to take off again at about 1 p.m. Utah time.
After passengers reboarded the aircraft and were ready to go, an inflatable slide at the rear of the plane was accidentally deployed inside the plane while it was still at the gate — hitting a Delta crew member , who was taken to the hospital, sources told the Post.
One passenger described the slide as “exploding” inside the plane, while another said the crew had armed a rear door, and that the air slide forced a panel out of the door when it accidentally deployed, striking the crew member “like an airbag” of a car.
Sources said the slide hit the unnamed crew member in the head and that the slide had been somehow accidentally deployed by the plane’s catering crew.
