A Delta Air Lines jet maintenance incident reportedly “sent a piece of metal flying like a missile”
A Boeing jet’s tire explosion killed two workers and injured another at Atlanta’s airport on Tuesday, local media reported.
The Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-232 jet had been undergoing maintenance at a Delta Technical Operations Maintenance (Delta TechOps) hangar since Sunday. It is not yet clear what caused the explosion. However, according to sources at FOX 5 Atlanta, the tire had already been removed from the plane at the time.
The explosion “sent a piece of metal flying like a missile”, killing two employees instantly, while another was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries, according to local WSB-TV.
The Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Mirko Marweg, 58, and Luis Aldarondo, 37.
Delta TechOps President and Chief Operating Officer John Laughter confirmed the deaths of two team members. “Tragically, two of our team members involved have passed away and another team member has been seriously injured,” Laughter said in a statement shared by media, offering support to the victims’ families and promising an investigation into the incident.
Boeing has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years over a number of flaws discovered in its aircraft, prompting safety concerns and investigations. Most recently, Boeing halted test flights of its 777X jet after inspections revealed flaws in critical parts on three of four test aircraft.
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department filed a plea agreement in a case against Boeing, marking the final stages of a long legal saga involving the deaths of two whistleblowers. Boeing agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges for misleading U.S. regulators and trying to hide flaws in its MCAS stability system. The company failed to inform or train airlines about the system, which contributed to two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.
The aerospace giant agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine and invest an additional $455 million in safety and compliance programs over the next three years. It will also undergo three years of probation under a U.S. government-appointed monitoring body.
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