CHICAGO (WLS) – On Tuesday, FAA investigators will attempt to determine how the evacuation slide fell from a United Airlines plane just before it landed in O’Hare Monday afternoon.
New video from a surveillance camera shows the plane flying overhead, and seconds later you can see the slide fall from the sky before landing in a neighborhood.
The slide came from a Boeing 767 plane flying from Zurich to Chicago. The impact was so severe that it damaged the downspout of one of the houses and damaged the roof shingles.
Chicago police said it happened at the 4700 block of North Chester Avenue in the northwest of the city. Nobody was injured.
Patrick Devitt, the homeowner who made the discovery, said he dragged the slide, which fell off a United 767, to the front from his backyard.
A man describes coming home and seeing a fallen airplane evacuation slide in the backyard
Devitt said his son and father-in-law were at their home eating lunch in the kitchen when they heard a loud “boom” around 12:15 p.m. as Devitt was on his way home from work.
The slide had hit the house, causing damage to the roof shingles, downspout and a screen on the kitchen window. Then Devitt’s father-in-law went outside, saw the chute and alerted his son-in-law.
“When everything is stretched out, it’s a little messed up. I’m sure in the picture when we pulled it out it’s bigger than a small car. It’s a very, very large device that fell down. said Devitt.
They called 911 and the FAA arrived within 30 minutes.
The FAA said a maintenance team in O’Hare discovered a missing evacuation slide on a United Airlines Boeing 767 that had just landed safely after a flight from Switzerland, and it appears to be the slide in question. In fact, this homeowner said two United representatives stopped by the home Monday afternoon to pick up the film.
This isn’t the first time a Boeing 767 has lost its chute, although it’s rare. It happened in 2016 in Phoenix near Sky Harbor Airport and again in 2019 in Boston near Logan Airport.
How that chute fell from that plane is still under investigation.
“This is really going to trigger quite a large investigation. It wasn’t a bird strike or something that happens routinely. It is a rare incident that could have resulted in fatalities on the ground or even compromised the stability of the aircraft upon landing,” said DePaul University Professor Joe Schwieterman.
Devitt said he was just glad no one was hurt.
“I’m a little stunned. I’m just glad everyone is doing well. Just seeing this in my backyard just wow me. This really happened. It fell out of a plane and landed in our backyard.” Devitt said.
A Boeing spokesman referred all questions to United and the FAA. United said it was working with its team to find out exactly what happened.
The authorities initially did not provide any further information.