Passengers hoping to catch a Delta flight from Atlanta to London Tuesday night were left stranded after mysterious loud ‘bang’ noises forced two different airplanes to turn around.
Delta Flight 284 was scheduled to leave Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport shortly after 7pm, but due to a mid-flight emergency had to turn around and come back to the airport, WSB-TV reports.
The company said the pilots, and some of the passengers, heard a loud noise coming from the plane. Erring on the side of caution, the pilots decided it was best to return to Hartsfield.
Two Delta flights from Atlanta to London were forced to turn around Tuesday night after passengers and the pilots heard mysterious loud bang noises (file picture)
The first Delta flight, which left Atlanta shortly after 7pm, had just made it over North Carolina when the incident occurred
Passenger Alex Brown told ABC that it was a ‘complete disaster.’
‘Got on the flight this morning coming out here. We were delayed for maybe about an hour. Then we left. The takeoff was fine. About roughly 35 minutes into the flight there was some bangs going on,’ he said.
Brown said the co-pilot came on the speaker and told everyone that she was declaring an emergency because of the noise and the plane would head back to Atlanta.
The flight had just made it over North Carolina when it re-routed. It arrived back in Atlanta shortly before 9.30pm, more than two hours after it had left.
Brown, and more than 200 other passengers, waited at the airport for hours as Delta reissued tickets and put them on another flight.
The second plane, which had the same flight number, left for London around midnight.
Brown said 35 minutes into that flight there was a loud bang noise. He described the sound as someone dropping a lead ball on the floor.
‘(The pilot) came back on and said we’re going to turn around,’ Brown told the outlet. ‘I understand that things go wrong, but two flights, same things, same timing. Everything was the same. It was surreal and scary.’
The second aircraft made it back to Hartfield around 1.30am. Delta then put passengers into nearby hotels.
A spokesperson for the company told WSB that airplane mechanics were checking on the planes to determine what the noises were, and passengers would be re-booked for a Wednesday evening flight to London.