Part of airplane wing found on Raleigh driveway. FAA solves mystery of its origins
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Police responded to a report of a plane part found on a Raleigh driveway.
- The FAA is investigating how the airplane wing detached and landed in Raleigh.
- No crash, injuries or property damage have been reported as of Wednesday morning.
Investigators have found the source of an airplane wing part that was found on a Raleigh driveway Wednesday morning.
The part’s origins remained a mystery throughout the day after it landed on Banbury Road near Wade Avenue, inside the Raleigh Beltline, according to Capt. John Black of the Raleigh Police Department.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a Wednesday evening statement that the airplane part came from the wing flap of a Delta Air Lines plane that had landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
In a news release, senior officer Erik Heib of the Raleigh Police Department wrote that a 911 caller reported at 8:30 a.m. that a piece of an airplane was blocking a person’s driveway.
FAA investigators were expected at the scene, Heib wrote.
At the time, he wrote that “it does not appear” there was a plane crash in Raleigh, and no injuries or property damage was reported, he wrote.
Wednesday afternoon, the FAA said Delta had reported a missing part of a wing flap on a plane, a Boeing 737-900, from Atlanta that landed at RDU.
“After the aircraft landed safely, it was observed that a portion of the left wing’s trailing edge flap was not in place,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. “Delta is fully supporting retrieval efforts and will cooperate with investigations as nothing is more important than safety.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 10:13 AM.
.jpg)