Delta Airlines 767 Diverts to Newfoundland Due to Electrical Issue
Delta Airlines Boeing 767 sits at Stephenville Airport (photo: Carol Hopkins)
A Delta Airlines Boeing 767 jet flying from New York City (JFK) to Istanbul (IST) diverted to Stephenville International Airport in Newfoundland on Friday due to an electrical issue.
Delta Flight 72, a Boeing 767-300 aircraft, turned around while passing the eastern tip of Canada over the Atlantic and landed safely at Stephenville at 10:29 PM local time.
There were no injuries reported.
The Delta pilots grounded the flight and switched planes.
Stephenville put up the passengers for the night while another 767 arrived and their trip to Istanbul resumed on Saturday.
Category: Airnation
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I’m glad everything turned out OK! I love happy endings…
it is my understanding that the generator failed over the north atlantic and the cockpit went black as the back up power supply in the cockpit failed at the same time. this appears to have been a pretty serious systems failure and could have ended very badly. it is my understanding that all aboard have a debt of gratitude to the skills of the flight crew for landing safely with a black cockpit. had this plane landed near a metropolitan area it would have been front page news.
Vic – You gave me info I did not know about. I heard the left engine rpm’s really high. The pilot landed that plane on a dime! I would love to send my gratitude to the flight crew and pilots. Do you know how ?
Old planes , lack of maintenance , bad service.
I take it you fly them a lot Deltagoldmember?
You’d be surprised… Delta’s maintenance is some of the best here in the US. And the 767′s (though old) still have a lot of life left in them! Maintenance is the key.
Lets say Even it’s best maintenance they are now turning IST route to seasonal because they almost lost the business against Turkish who is flying 3 flights per day with brand new 777-300er and united … Delta planes are old , service is worse on JFK IST route. I flied a lot but no more ..
I’m so confused!! LOL :)
LOL James, you’re not alone, i don’t get it either! All i read was “maintenance”, “brand new” and “united” in the same sentence… enough said!
Delta planes are old , service is worse on JFK IST route. I flied a lot but no more .. may be this is more understandable ..
Overall, Delta’s planes aren’t really “that” much older than comparable airlines here in the US… Delta’s average fleet is 16.6 years old, American’s average fleet is 15.1 years old, and United’s average fleet is 13.4 years old. Not that much of a difference.
Old planes aren’t an issue as long as they’re properly maintained. Statistically, Delta has a better dispatch reliability than United, and obviously better than AA also.
And when you write “IST” are you talking about Istanbul? Why do you think the service from JFK to Istanbul is “poor”? Are you talking about the flight crews? Or the gate agents here at JFK? Your negative experiences seem to be isolated to this single route, and no offense but i have a feeling that it’s the Istanbul component that might be the problem. You can’t conclude that Delta service “as a whole” is “poor” just because you find it perplexing that a US airline might not know Istanbul’s hospitality better than Turkish Airlines.
And Delta only flies the 767 on the JFK-IST route, and Delta’s 767′s build dates range from 1987 to 2001- yes, not very new. Also note, they only fly this route direct once daily. Again, no offense but it doesn’t appear that Delta is considering this route a priority. It’s probably not a “top pick” among flight crews when they work out scheduling…
I’ve been flying domestically with Delta and have never had a problem. Many routes, many flight crews. And i can tell you that Delta’s maintenance and aircraft fleet is excellent as a whole.
Cool , keep flying with Delta Mr non isolated flyer. :) Difference Between you and me is I’m international flyer you are domestic , from your side delta is best from my side delta is worse. Cabin attendants are too old, lack of service , plus food is really low quality and not delicious . 3 of each 10 flight with 767′s has problems always causing delays out of Istanbul . I have flown to several international routes with delta since 2005. a330′s have problems such as in a flight business elite seats were not functional because of power problem. ( we bought tickets for 6-7k$ and flying with non working business seats) . I’m not against delta , but they are 3 star airline on a 5 star classifying system….
Your contributions to this article make little sense, and your responses of “Old planes,” “lack of maintenance,” and “bad service” have nothing to do with this issue at hand.
This incident aircraft was delivered to Delta in 1998, which makes it a rather young plane. The electrical issue couldn’t have been that severe because the plane was back in the US the following evening. The passengers were put in hotels and transported to their destination quite rapidly- i’d hardly call this “bad service” or anything out of the norm. Delta’s fleet has a higher dispatch reliability than United or any other US airline that flies to Istanbul (which believe me, isn’t a priority route to US airlines).
And Delta isn’t flying only one flight from JFJ-IST because they’re “competing with Turkish Airlines”, they’ve dropped the flights because there’s no demand.
And next time you want to post statistics such as “3 of each 10 flight with 767′s has problems always causing delays out of Istanbul” you may want to make reference to some type of published source, because your numbers are WAY out there. Like i said earlier, Delta’s dispatch reliability is excellent.
I’m sorry if i offend you, but anyone who comments on here with statements like “Cabin attendants are too old” in an attempt to correlate this with an airline being “bad” is going to receive a lot of flack.
“”…The passengers were put in hotels and transported to their destination quite rapidly..”"”
Chris, I was on that flight. There was no hotel, and replacement plane took off 8-9 hrs later. We stayed in the plane, no AC. We were taken to terminal building (I am not sure if it can be called a terminal, was a single room with some seats enough for 1/4 of passengers on this plane, had to stay for about an hour when switching planes) in groups of 12, for the restrooms.
However, I would not complain, because crew and pilots did best they could in given circumstances.
I was on the flight. The pilot informed us – once they had figured things out that it would be quicker to stay on the plane and wait for Delta to send a plane from JFK – 4 hours instead of trying to get Customs people from Halifax to process the entire plane. It indeed was 8-9 hours before we were on our way.
Im not ignorant because you are commenting about something you dont know. If you dont know about two things you cant comment and compare. Have you flown to IST with Delta or any other airline before? No but , delta is best airline :) as you told there is a lack of demand Istanbul so how come Turkish has increased their flights to 3 frequency per day and united started flying to Istanbul from EWR… It doesn’t seem lack of demand. Please also note that flights of Turkish was nearly full while Delta flights were also occupying by passengers nearly full..I’m flying as a passenger I experience and I comment I don’t need to show an article regarding my comments. I will send you dates of incidents with dates if you are very interested. . I have almost 400000 miles with delta and 300000 miles with star alliance. Also delta doesn’t send the planes with flatbed seats to IST route because planes with flatbed seats has moved cabin attendant rest area to a part of cargo section so they have less space to get cargo and therefore in IST route new flatbed Seats are not offered to clients because of this reason (lack of demand!!!!) what do you think about this mr delta airlines?
Quite frankly *edited*.
I was on the plane. Funny, it was my first “long” flight, and turned out to be so much longer than expected.
Always been cavalier abut flying, despite having worked with some people who have survived crashes.
I took commend the pilot and crew that night into morning.
It was an experience, an event where passengers developed eye contact relationships with people from different parts of the world. The relative composure of passengers was interesting as were the bounty of complaints that ensued once we landed safely on the ground. Someone SLAX I think, make a significant comment on another sight I’d like to find. It was physically and emotionally exhausting and took a few days into trip to come down from, so to speak. Ran into two other passengers in Istanbul. Had some wicked nightmares. I will not forget the people I met and spoke with on that plane, especially the hours in the plane on the ground in Stephenville. I expect to be thinking about it for quite some time. Istanbul was so majestic and extraordinary. In the future I think I’ll check age of plane, whatever airline.
Enjoyed your response. I was so amazed by the crew,pilots and passengers that kept it together. I was on a mission trip and although the trip took 30 hours from my orig.I had no “side effects” while on my trip. After I got home – I have had bad nightmares – hearing the left engine RPMs high etc. On the way back – IST to JFK we recognized one of the flight attendants(male)that was on the “scary” flight. We said – “How ’bout that Flight #72?” He said he had to take a couple of days off. Thanking God for all of it.
Thanks for your response It was an unforgettable event.
Get any comp from Delta?
yes,not enough :)
$100 with miles or $250?
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