Delta Air Lines says 4 passengers injured after flight to Minneapolis was aborted
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Four passengers were injured Friday at the Atlanta airport after a Delta Air Lines jet bound for Minneapolis aborted its takeoff.
The plane had experienced an engine problem, Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant said. The incident happened while a snowstorm was causing widespread cancellations and delays in Atlanta, the world's busiest airport. But officials can't say if the problem had anything to do with the weather.
Allison Wade of Atlanta was on the flight. She said the Boeing 757-300 came to a sudden halt while speeding down the runway.
“I looked out. I was sitting on the right-hand side of the plane, and I could see black smoke out of my window because I was on a window seat,” Wade said.
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Wade said a flight attendant told everyone to crouch down before the pilot ordered passengers to evacuate down the inflatable slides.
“Everybody kind of jumped up and was standing but it took people a while to move. And then someone started screaming 'get off the plane! get off the plane!’” she said.
The 201 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants aboard evacuated the plane using inflatable slides and were bused back to a concourse. One of the injured passengers was taken to a hospital, while three were treated at the airport for minor injuries.
Wade said the flight crew handled the emergency well.
Durrant said the flight crew “followed established procedures to suspend the takeoff.”
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience," Durrant said. "We are working to support our customers and get them to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate.
All five of the runways at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were closed for at least a time on Friday. Delta said at noon on Friday that it had already canceled about 500 flights at the airport. The airline said in a news release that snow “began earlier and with heavier intensity than forecast, which reduced deicing capability and slowed operations.”
Delta said customers could rebook without paying additional costs, and that more flights might be canceled or rescheduled.
Other airports with significant delays and cancellations Friday included those in Charlotte, N.C., Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville.
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