Additional Coverage:
- Flight attendant’s costly error leads to grounding of Delta flight, long passenger delays (foxnews.com)
Oops! Pittsburgh Flight Grounded After Emergency Slide Takes an Unscheduled Detour
Talk about an unexpected “slide” into your travel plans! Passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) found themselves in a bit of a pickle recently when a flight attendant accidentally deployed an aircraft’s emergency slide right before takeoff.
According to a firsthand account on Reddit from a passenger on board, the costly mishap turned everyone’s evening into a “cluster f—.” The user described a scene of confusion and a lengthy delay after the attendant, visibly flustered, accidentally triggered the slide. He quickly apologized to passengers, mentioning that in his 26-year career, he’d never had such an incident.
When another Redditor cheekily asked if passengers at least got to use the slide to deplane, the original poster joked, “Haha. That would be fun. They specifically said that would be a bigger trouble.”
Instead, it took maintenance crews about an hour to detach and remove the rogue slide. Only then could the jet bridge return to allow travelers to exit the plane safely.
The passenger speculated the incident occurred while the flight attendant was attempting to secure the door, perhaps mistaking it for the opening mechanism. “The jet bridge just left.
I guess he meant to secure the door, but instead opened it?”
While the airline hasn’t officially confirmed the flight details, the conversation suggested it might have been Delta 3248 to Salt Lake City (SLC), which experienced a significant delay that evening.
Thankfully, no one was hurt, just unexpectedly stranded for an hour. As one commenter perfectly summed it up, the night might have been a “cluster f—,” but hopefully, everyone can look back and laugh about it later.
For those wondering, emergency slides are strictly for, well, emergencies! The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states they’re only to be used when a rapid evacuation is needed. During normal operations, flight attendants are required to “disarm” the slides before any aircraft door is opened on the ground.
Accidentally deploying one is a pretty big deal. Each slide can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repack and replace, often rendering the aircraft temporarily out of commission.
The procedure for disarming these systems can vary depending on the aircraft model, with some requiring cabin crew to perform the process internally, while others involve coordination with ground staff. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates these accidental deployments cost airlines around $20 million annually.
We’ve reached out to Delta for comment on the incident.