What’s Really Good!? Four Recent Times Planes & Passengers Made Air Travel Hectic

Whew! Lately, it seems like the number of incidents on planes, from malfunctions to passengers acting out, is going up.

Aside from giving ‘Final Destination’ vibes, these moments have led to flight delays, cancellations, and even emergency landings. To make things even more hectic, these incidents aren’t just affecting one or two airlines.

In the last few weeks, several in the U.S. and beyond, including Alaska Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines, have been in the headlines for a nightmare-ish flight.

Keep scrolling to see four recent incidents that had passengers gagged and pilots shook.

1. Planes Do That? Delta Aircraft Loses Wheel During Takeoff

A Delta plane recently lost its nose wheel while attempting to depart from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

WSB-TV reports that the equipment failure went down at about 11:15 a.m. on Jan. 20. The incident report allegedly said the “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill.” Boeing 757 was the type of aircraft affected, adding to a growing list of accidents involving Boeing planes.

The wheel slip delayed the air travel, and passengers and their belongings were asked to deplane onto buses. After arriving at their gate, the passengers and their luggage were placed on a replacement plane.

Listen to the audio footage below of air traffic control discussing the missing wheel.

the wheel of a Delta Boeing 757 just flew off while it was preparing to take off at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The wheel then rolled down the runway…

could have been catastrophic if it happened a few seconds later

video from 1/20 (VASAviation) pic.twitter.com/mO7Fvzysmx

— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) January 23, 2024

Though no one got bumped or bruised, the FAA is reportedly still investigating what happened. For context, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for regulating and overseeing civilian air travel in the U.S.

2. Virgin Atlantic Grounds Flight Amid Missing Wing Bolts

Virgin Atlantic passengers traveling from England to New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport curved a significant scare on Jan. 15. The airline canceled a flight minutes before takeoff. Why? A passenger named Phil Hardy observed missing bolts from the plane’s wing. Hardy told a flight attendant about four missing bolts from the wing panel.

In a statement to Business Insider, a Virgin Atlantic rep explained why they reacted by canceling the flight. “…to provide time for precautionary additional engineering maintenance checks,” the airline representative shared.

According to The Independent, the airline also rebooked passengers on alternative flights into NYC.

Nonetheless, the local chief wing engineer for these types of A330 planes told BI the plane was still safe to fly. Apparently, the missing bolts were from a secondary structure panel.

“The panel is used to improve the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. Each of these panels has 119 fasteners, so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate. As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced,” Neil Firth reportedly wrote in an email.

The airline also apologized to impacted passengers in their statement. However, this isn’t Virgin Atlantic’s first incident with its planes in the last month.

The Independent reports that the airline had an emergency landing on Jan. 7. Twenty minutes into a flight from England to Barbados, the plane’s cockpit reportedly filled with smoke. Virgin Atlantic reportedly said they landed due to “technical issues.”