Delta Air Lines - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

The following are major incidents and accidents that occurred on Delta Air Lines mainline aircraft. For Northwest Airlines incidents, see Northwest Airlines Incidents and Accidents. For Delta Connection incidents, see Delta Connection incidents and accidents.

Delta Air Lines Reported Incidents
Flight Date Aircraft Location Description Casualties
Fatal Serious Minor Uninjured Ground
N/A April 22, 1947 DC-3 Columbus, Georgia A Vultee BT-13, owned by the Tuskegee Aviation Institute landed on top of the DC-3, which was flying from Macon to Columbus. 8 0 0 0 1
705 March 10, 1948 DC-4 Chicago Midway Airport Crashed near Chicago Municipal (Midway) Airport shortly after takeoff while en route to Miami. Officials determined that longitudinal control of the airplane was lost resulting in the crash. The cause for the loss of control remains undetermined. 12 1 0 0 0
318 May 17, 1953 DC-3 Marshall, Texas Crashed 13 miles (21 km) east of Marshall, Texas. The flight which originated from Dallas Love Field was on approach to Shreveport, Louisiana. The crash was attributed to adverse weather conditions with a thunderstorm in the area. 19 1 0 0 1
1903 May 23, 1960 Convair 880 Atlanta Crashed during a training exercise in Atlanta. The aircraft stalled and crashed killing all four crew members. 4 0 0 0 0
9877 March 30, 1967 DC-8 New Orleans Crashed during a training exercise near New Orleans International Airport. The improper use of flight and power controls by both instructor and the Captain-trainee during a simulated two-engine out landing approach, resulted in the loss of control. The aircraft crashed into a residential area, destroying several homes and a motel complex, killing 13 civilians. 6 0 0 0 13
9570 May 30, 1972 DC-9 Greater Southwest International Airport Crashed during landing procedures in Fort Worth, Texas. The probable cause of the accident was wake turbulence resulting from a touch-and-go landing moments before of American Airlines Flight 1114, operated using a DC-10. The right wing hit the ground causing a fire resulting in the aircraft being written off. 4 0 0 0 0
954 December 20, 1972 Convair 880 Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport The Delta CV-880 taxied across runway 27L in heavy fog. At the same time, North Central Airlines Flight 575, a DC-9-31, took off from the same runway. The aircraft collided. 10 0 17 (severity unknown) 101 0
723 July 31, 1973 DC-9 Boston Logan International Airport Crashed in seawall. Contributing to the accident was a defective flight deck instrument giving the crew misleading guidance during the instrument approach in visibility less than a half mile with 500-foot (150 m) cloud ceilings. 89 occupants died including Leopold Chouinard, died from burns months after the accident, leaving no survivors . 89 0 0 0 0
516 November 27, 1973 DC-9 Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Crashed into approach lights during a thunderstorm 0 4 75 0 0
191 August 2, 1985 Lockheed L-1011 Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport On a Fort Lauderdale–Dallas/Fort Worth- Los Angeles route, the plane crashed due to severe microburst-induced wind shear. One civilian was killed as the plane crossed a highway. The crash would later become the subject of a television movie. Numerous changes to pilot wind shear training, weather forecasting, and wind shear detection were made as a result of this crash. 134 15 12 2 1
37 July 8, 1987 Lockheed L-1011 North Atlantic Ocean Near collision with a Continental 747 carrying 418 passengers and crew. Both the Delta (London-Cincinnati) and Continental (London-Newark) were heading to the U.S. with nearly 600 people total on both aircraft. The Delta flight strayed 60 miles (97 km) off course to the south from its assigned "C" track during its flight and came within 30 feet (9.1 m) of colliding with the 747 as the L-1011 flew under it in Canadian airspace, flying on the "D" track (there are five westbound and five eastbound tracks from the United States to the United Kingdom. Had the planes actually collided, it would have tied the Tenerife airport disaster as the deadliest aviation accident in history. 0 0 0 All 0
1141 August 31, 1988 Boeing 727 Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Crashed after takeoff bound for Salt Lake City, Utah. The investigation stated the probable cause of this accident to be improper configuration of the flaps and leading edge slats. 14 26 50 18 0
1288 July 6, 1996 MD-88 Pensacola International Airport An uncontained engine failure of the port (left) engine on the aircraft resulted in a fan hub piercing the cabin. The flight was scheduled to fly to Atlanta. The aircraft involved in this accident, N927DA, was repaired and returned to service, and remains in service as of 2012. 2 2 3 135 0
1989 September 11, 2001 Boeing 767–300 En route from Logan International Airport Flight 1989, bound for Los Angeles International Airport was caught in the path of United Airlines Flight 93. The two aircraft were so close that ATC were initially confused as to which plane had been hijacked. The Delta pilot managed to avoid United 93 and the flight was later diverted to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 0 0 0 All 0
129 February 3, 2002 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Dublin Airport Flight 129 from Atlanta skidded off the runway at Dublin Airport in high winds. The port engine of MD-11 N803DE had severe damage 0 0 0 All 0

Although Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was listed as a Northwest Airlines flight, the aircraft bore the Delta livery during the transitional period after the merger; it was therefore reported in some media as a Delta flight.

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