Well here’s something you don’t see every day…
Delta Boeing 737 loses flap during Raleigh-Durham descent
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an incident that happened on a flight departing on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Specifically, Delta flight DL3247 operated from Atlanta (ATL) to Raleigh-Durham (RDU), with 115 people onboard. The flight was operated by a 12-year-old Boeing 737-900ER with the registration code N940DU.
The 63-minute flight was routine, and touched down at 12:24AM. Nobody thought more of it, until an aircraft part was found in the driveway of a Raleigh area home. Authorities were contacted, and it was determined that the part was actually the left wing’s trailing edge flap, which “evidently separated from the aircraft prior to its safe landing.”
Flaps are of course an important aircraft part, especially during takeoff and landing. However, this was only a small portion of the flaps, and there are ways to compensate for missing parts. The fact that this wasn’t even noticed until after landing clearly reflects that.
As you’d expect, the plane has been grounded since the flight, so it has now been on the ground for nearly 36 hours. For what it’s worth, this aircraft formerly flew for Indonesia’s Lion Air, and joined Delta’s fleet in 2023.
These kinds of incidents are rare, but happen
Thank goodness that the aircraft part fell in a driveway that had no one in it, rather than falling into a home, or onto a person. The fact that no one was injured, and there was no major damage to anything on the ground, is great.
With the number of planes flying at any given point, of course things will sometimes go wrong. Aircraft losing parts happens, but it’s quite rare. Over the years, we’ve seen aircraft lose wheels, winglets, portions of the flap, etc.
For example, in early 2024, we saw a wheel fall off a United Boeing 777 on takeoff from San Francisco (SFO), which was obviously a pretty dramatic event, especially as it crushed some cars. Fortunately no one was injured.
Bottom line
Someone woke up in Raleigh on Wednesday morning, and found an aircraft flap in their driveway. This was reported to authorities, and it was later determined that this aircraft part belonged to a Delta Boeing 737 that had operated a flight over the house. This incident is now being investigated by authorities.
What do you make of this Delta 737 flap incident?
