Delta Air Lines is investigating the cause of visible nose damage on one of its planes that landed safely in Denver on Monday.
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The Airbus A320 departed from Detroit at 12:36 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and arrived in Denver at 1:38 p.m. Mountain Standard Time after a three-hour flight, according to tracking website FlightAware, per Fox Business.
One concerned flyer took to X to post their concerns over the damage. “@Delta this is DL 1648 after arriving in Denver today. Care to share what happened?” X user Lynn Park wrote on X, alongside two harrowing photos.
In the pictures, the ground crew seems to be gawking at the damage to the Delta plane’s nose. The images show the tip of the plane all but caved in.
“Crews received an indication of a mechanical issue in the nose of the aircraft,” Delta told Fox Business in a statement. “The flight landed safely and taxied to the gate without incident. Our maintenance crews are inspecting the aircraft. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”
The airline also confirmed that the plane was carrying 148 passengers along with six crew members.
Delta Claims the Plane Wasn’t Hit By an Object
A spokesperson for the airline also informed local TV station Denver7 that there were no reports of the aircraft being hit by any object. Thankfully, there were no injuries, and the aircraft was scheduled for overnight repairs.
However, this leaves unanswered questions about the origin of the large dent. An investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, due to the incident, Delta flight DL2362 from Denver to Salt Lake City experienced a delay. This was further extended by an aircraft swap to an Airbus A319. The flight departed four and a half hours later than scheduled, according to Delta.
The Airbus A320 family consists of a range of narrow-body airliners designed and manufactured by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, had its inaugural flight on February 22, 1987, and was introduced into service in April 1988 by Air France.
The A320 was followed by the extended A321 (delivered in January 1994), and the shorter A319 (April 1996). Meanwhile, the even shorter A318 debuted in July 2003. Final assembly occurred in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; Tianjin, China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama in the United States since April 2016.