Matt and Rodney Lake of Thinking Matters Tauranga were both on the flight in this story tonight: “FAA: Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Atlanta.”

Matt wrote on Facebook of the first plane being scrapped because it was “not safe”, a second plane being organised in its place. An hour after takeoff the pilot announced there was something wrong with the engine, they were turning around and they’d be landing in 20 minutes (speeding much?).

They banged down onto the runway with a real jolt and came to a halt with “scraping sounds”. They were not allowed to disembark until “the plane had been inspected for damage.”

Fox News reports:

Delta Flight 125 took off around 6:10 p.m. Sunday and was en route to LAX when one of the engines failed. The pilot declared an emergency and returned back to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. The tail of the 767 scraped the runway upon landing, but no injuries were reported. The runway was shutdown for a brief period so airport operations crews could inspect it for damage and possible debris.

A Delta spokesperson said the plane, with 262 passengers aboard, reported issues with the air ducts to one of the engines. After the flight landed safely, all the passengers were put on another plane which continued without further delays to Los Angeles.

Fox5 News spoke with a pilot of a 767 who said engine failure and the tail section striking the runway are both significant events which would be investigated. While the two events normally would not be related, both would be checked out to learn why they occurred. He said the tail skid on the back of the aircraft is designed to take the impact of the plane striking the runway. The tail skid extends and retracts with the landing gear. He added that if the plane struck the runway hard enough it would be procedure for the pilot to notify the tower which would send a crew to search for debris on the runway.

The third Plane took off a few hours later. By then the connecting flight back to New Zealand via Sydney had well and truly been missed. They landed without incident in LAX and Matt is currently holed up in a hotel awaiting a replacement flight back to Auckland which will leave in the morning our time.

I have talked to him via Skype, have seen he is ok – just want him home safely now.

Tags:   Atlanta · Delta Airlines · GeorgiaNo Comments