Neighbors in a quiet North Carolina community were startled when a detached section of a commercial jet’s wing landed in someone’s driveway during the early hours of Wednesday morning.
According to Fox News, A Delta flight headed from Atlanta to Raleigh experienced an in-flight equipment loss when part of its left wing flap broke off and landed near a home without causing any injuries or damage.
The aircraft in question, a Boeing 737-900ER, was operating as Delta Flight 3247 on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. It departed from Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 11:06 p.m., roughly ten minutes behind schedule due to stormy weather delaying operations.
On board were 109 passengers and six crew members, all bound for Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The flight proceeded as planned until its safe landing just after 1:15 a.m. on July 2. The crew and passengers were unaware during the flight that a component had detached from the aircraft’s left wing.
Upon arrival at Raleigh-Durham, post-flight checks revealed that a section of the wing’s trailing edge flap—a critical component used during takeoff and landing—was missing. Delta Air Lines immediately began coordinating with authorities to determine the location of the missing part.
That same morning, residents of a North Carolina neighborhood discovered the missing flap in the driveway of a private home. The unexpected object, which fell from thousands of feet in the air, drew astonishment from local residents and aviation officials alike.
No one was injured and no property damage was reported, according to Raleigh police. Crews arrived later on July 2 to remove the metal piece from the site. FAA officials were also notified and confirmed an investigation had been opened into the incident.
One nearby worker, Susan Reed, expressed her disbelief about the part landing in such a busy neighborhood. “It’s amazing when you consider it’s such a dense neighborhood and people are out all the time,” she said.
Delta later issued a statement acknowledging the missing flap and confirmed their full cooperation with the investigation. “After the aircraft landed safely, it was observed that a portion of the left wing’s trailing edge flap was not in place,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
The company added that they were assisting with the retrieval of the detached component and reaffirmed that passenger safety remains their highest priority. The FAA has taken the lead in determining what caused the part to separate mid-flight.
Incidents involving lost parts from commercial aircraft are rare but taken seriously by regulators. The Boeing 737-900ER involved is one of the newer models in Delta's fleet, making the investigation even more critical in determining underlying causes to avoid future incidents.
The neighborhood where the wing flap landed is densely populated, and the potential risk of falling debris has left some residents uneasy. While the event, fortunately, resulted in no harm, the randomness of its landing location raised concerns about safety zones under busy flight paths.
“We dodged a bullet on this one,” Reed told reporters. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again.” No flights have been rerouted, and there’s been no word on changes to flight schedules in the area following the event.
The removed flap is now in the possession of investigators. FAA officials are reviewing flight data, maintenance records, and the timeline leading up to the flight’s departure from Atlanta.
Mechanical integrity is a key element of flight safety, and the sudden separation of a wing component during flight carries weighty implications. Investigators will examine whether maintenance procedures, weather exposure, or manufacturing defects played a role in this case.
So far, Delta has not commented on whether other aircraft in its fleet have undergone additional inspections in response to this issue. Passengers on Flight 3247 were not made aware of the incident until after the flight had landed safely.
This near-miss has opened a potential discussion about labeling residential areas more vulnerable to such events or enhancing real-time aircraft monitoring systems that might detect structural changes before planes touch down.
