United Boeing 'loses' evacuation chute over residential neighborhood
The photo taken by Chicago police shows a silvery plastic object on the sidewalk of a residential street, [...]
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The photo taken by Chicago police shows a silvery plastic object on the sidewalk of a residential street, just a few feet from one of those basketball hoops that Americans put in their backyards to emulate NBA stars. There are also four police cars and a dozen officers there, looking puzzled at that shapeless pile of plastic a couple of meters wide and six meters long. Calling them there shortly after 12 noon on Tuesday, July 18, was a resident, who had heard a thunderous 'bang' just behind his house moments earlier.
Investigators moving an emergency evacuation inflatable slide into a truck earlier this afternoon outside a home on N. Chester Ave. FAA confirms it fell from a United flight from Switzerland, which landed safely. United: 155 passengers & 10 crew members were on board. @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/VmFYKBmBWv
- Courtney Spinelli (@CourtSpinelliTV) July 17, 2023
The object in question is an aircraft emergency slide. One of those used, to be clear, during emergency evacuations, to get passengers quickly down to the ground in the absence of stairs.
In the residential neighborhood that lies a few miles from Chicago O'Hare Airport, a prankster didn't bring it there. It fell there. From the sky, literally. What 'lost' it, minutes before landing, was a United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER, which was on final approach to O'Hare after a flight (UA 12) from Zurich carrying 155 passengers and 10 crew members.
The plane landed without a problem moments after it 'unhooked' the slide, which only chance would have it that it did not end up on a car, a house or some passerby.
The accident, and the reasons for the accidental slide release, is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the U.S. flight safety agency. In 2019, an identical incident had happened near Boston's Logan Airport. In that case, it was again a Boeing 767-300 that 'lost' the chute, but from Delta Airlines.
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