Another plane falls apart in the sky

A piece from a engine took out a chunk of pavement on a Missouri road after it fell off an airborne Delta Air Lines MD-88 yesterday. The aircraft, which had just departed St. Louis Lambert International Airport, shed one of its engine's tail cones that was about 18-by-20-inches or the size of a small wastebasket according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for the FAA, said Delta Flight 989 had just departed with 114 passengers when the flight crew heard a loud bang followed by an engine failure. The aircraft returned to STL and landed safely. This follows two 757s and a 767 shedding panels in flight earlier this year. What's the lesson here? Be sure to look up when you're outside. There may be an airplane about to fall on your head.

photo credit: Ivan Cholakov

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

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Angry passenger leaves plane on emergency slide

A first-class passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight became so angry that a passenger in coach was going to exit the aircraft before him on arrival into Georgetown, Guyana that he decided to pop open an emergency exit and ride the evacuation chute ride off the plane on to the ramp below. Local police told the Associated Press that the man, who arrived from New York, appeared to be intoxicated and was arrested shortly after the stunt. Delta reps claim they will be filing charges against the man for interfering with flight crew members. Judging by Delta's schedule, I'm figuring the man got a free ride down the slide of a Boeing 757. (sarcasm)Good for that man. He's way more important then the cretins back in cattle class(/sarcasm).

(via MSNBC)

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Delta CRJ catches fire on taxiway

The flight crew and passengers of Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 4320 had quite a bit of excitement yesterday when their CRJ-200 caught on fire while taxiing out to the runway for departure at the Baton Rouge Airport. The flight, operating for Delta, had to be evacuated on the taxiway when it was apparent after a loud pop, that the right engine was on fire. No one was injured in the incident and the airport fire crew was on scene within 90 seconds to start fighting the fire as seen in the picture above with the ARFF truck shooting some Purple K dry chem on the right engine.

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Even more sweet new Delta logos (hopefully)

If you liked the post on Tuesday of what the new Delta could look like after the proposed merger with Northwest, check these babies out. Again, the Delta widget and Northwest compass are blended together just nicely to preserve each airline's heritage. Delta would have to be crazy not to go with these very high quality conceptions by artist J.R. Heilig.



The first one shows a NWA 747-400 repainted in a beautiful new Delta livery.



This second one is what a Delta 777 would look like repainted in the new colors.

I happen to love them both, which means Delta will go a completely opposite direction with a new livery.

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What the new Delta/Northwest will look like

We're not likely to hit too much on the Delta and Northwest merger announced last night here at PointNiner, but I did want to submit this picture I found on Modified Airliner Photos a few weeks ago of what the new airline could look like. By the way, the Delta names stays and the Northwest name disappears. The amateur artist did a nice job with this 787 to combine the best of the two. He took the famous Delta widget and made it the point in the Northwest compass. Who knows if this is what they'll end up doing though, but it would be nice to retain some heritage from both airlines in the new livery.



The above picture from Flightblogger does a nice job of showing you what the two airline's current fleets look like. It will be interesting to see what stays and what goes. Dear Delta, please axe the Diesel-9s.

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Woman's dog gets squished by Delta

WARNING: THIS STORY IS NOT FOR ANIMAL LOVERS, SQUEAMISH, OR THE FAINT OF HEART. An Auburn, New Hampshire woman was on her way to Logan Airport in Boston on Saturday to pick up a new puppy, when she received a call from Delta Air Lines that the pooch had been accidentally crushed to death in Atlanta. Her new $800 West Highland Terrier was being shipped by the airline from a breeder in Arkansas when the accident took place at the dog's connecting city of Atlanta. That's where a ramp rat placed the dogs crate on the apron next to a vehicle being used to load an airplane. The vehicle somehow moved, and well, I think you get the idea from the picture. The puppy's would be owner wants Delta to hold the ramper responsible and wants the airline to review its animal handling policies stating. "I just don't want this puppy to die in vain." Delta is investigating the incident.

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Delta 777-200LR in flight pictures

The below seven pictures were taken from a Learjet flying in formation. The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-200LR, a work of art if you ask me.

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Even more FAA inspections fallout

Just a few weeks after the Southwest Airlines inspection debacle, and just a day after American Airlines cancelled a slew of flights for mandatory inspections, Delta Air Lines is now joining the herd by cancelling 325 flights between today and tomorrow. The cancellations will allow for inspections of wiring bundles in their fleet of MD-80s similar to the inspections AA is doing. I'm getting the feeling that we're still just scratching the surface on this whole inspection deal. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone when congress drops the hammer on the FAA here in the near future and demands a rethinking into airworthiness inspection compliance and monitoring. Until then, be sure to check to see if your flight is running on time before you leave the house.

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767 heating duct implodes in flight, passengers sprayed with hot ashes and insulation

Passengers aboard a Delta 767 yesterday had a fun time on their flight from Raleight-Durham to Atlanta. According to a preliminary report from the FAA, one of the aircraft's heat exchanging ducts imploded. The force of the implosion caused hot air and ashes to be vented into the aircraft's cabin during cruise at 31,000 feet. The hot air also filled the interior of the fuselage with cabin insulation (at least its not asbestos).

The flight crew of Delta 1819 diverted the flight with 259 passengers to the Greenville, SC airport where it landed safely. Everyone was released from the flight and it appears that there was only one injury. A woman received a burn to her knee. Of course, post incident interviews with local media included the usual hopeful buzzwords, "bomb", "9/11", "the worst", etc. Although this would be scary if you were a passenger, it is reported that life did go on.

(Photo: The Greenville News)