How does one go find information on what happened on a flight when things go poorly. This from a friend who flew yesterday on Delta 1909 from Jackson Hole WY to Salt Lake City Utah:
“[T]he plane hit extreme turbulence shortly after take off, and it was severe enough to damage the plane. I fly a lot and it’s the worst I’ve experienced, people were screaming. We had to fly super slow after that (the normal flight time is 40 minutes which became an hour and 10) and the pilot announced that during descent there would be loud and unfamiliar sounds emanating from the damage. Our runway was lined with emergency vehicles - lights flashing as we approached. People were crying and praying. We landed safely….”
I can’t find any news reports concerning the incident, and was wondering whether this community could shed some light on the following questions that arise.
- Is this kind of incident actually common enough so it isn’t reported by the news?
- Is this something that gets reported to the FAA or the NTSB? And if so, are the reports available somewhere? It doesn’t shown the FAA AIN page.
- Anybody want to speculate what kind of damage might have taken place? Note that the captain announced that there was damage.
Oh, just got an update from my friend, who heard second-hand that there was a problem with the landing gear and the extra noise on approach was due to lowering the gear early. I’d speculate that the emergency vehicles were in place in case of gear collapse on landing.
Anyway, thanks for your comments.
Carlisle