A Delta flight to New York was forced to divert to a military Air Base in Atlantic following engine shut down.
Delta flight DL127 made an emergency descent over the Atlantic Ocean on July 6, following an engine issue.
The Airbus A330-300 departed from Madrid–Barajas Airport to New York JFK and had reached the midpoint of its transatlantic journey when an engine incident occurred.
Emergency landing
Passengers described a strange “whizzing” sound followed by the scent of something burning. Pilots issued a Mayday call following the shut down of right hand engine according the source.
The flight was diverted to Lajes Air Base on Terceira Island in the Azores, a Portuguese military facility with very limited customs infrastructure, where it landed safely on runway 15 with one engine.
Rescue flight
Passengers were held at the airport for several hours until a replacement Delta A330 aircraft (registration N822NW) arrived the following morning to continue the journey.
Aircraft grounded
The affected aircraft (registration N805NW) remains grounded in Terceira Island pending an engine (PW4168) inspection.
Lajes Air Base
Located on Terceira Island in the Portuguese Azores, Lajes Airport (TER) serves as both a civilian airport and a military airbase. Officially known as Aeroporto das Lajes, it shares facilities with Lajes Air Base, which is operated by the Portuguese Air Force and also used by the United States military under long-standing defense agreements.
Strategically positioned in the mid-Atlantic, Lajes has long been a key refueling and emergency diversion point for transatlantic flights. Its runway—one of the longest in the region—makes it especially suitable for handling large aircraft, including wide-body commercial jets and military cargo planes.
