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.
| 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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