Delta passengers forced to evacuate on slides after 'smoke fills cabin' at Atlanta airport

By RACHEL BOWMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM 18:18 24 Feb 2025, updated 19:02 24 Feb 2025

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Delta Air Lines passengers were forced to evacuate after smoke filled the cabin at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday.

The Boeing 717-200 was headed to Columbia Metropolitan Airport, South Carolina, when haze overwhelmed the cabin.

The flight landed at around 9am - and all 94 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants on board were forced to flee the aircraft using the emergency exit slides.

Shocking images showed multiple travelers standing on the left wing of the aircraft, desperately holding onto their belongings, as they fled the smoke-filled Delta plane.

'Delta Air Lines Flight 876 returned safely to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 9 a.m. local time on Monday, February 24, after the crew reported possible smoke in the flightdeck,' the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Crew members reported the haze shortly after takeoff and an emergency was declared to get priority handling from air traffic control.

'The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when a haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure,' a Delta spokesperson said.

'Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience.'

Passengers used their clothing to cover their faces as clouds of smoke filled the cabin, according to video shared with 11 Alive.

The airline said teams brought customers to the terminal via ground transportation and they are working to rebook passengers on other flights.

An airport spokesperson told ABC News the incident had a 'moderate impact to operations.'

The incident comes after Delta has offered to pay all passengers on board the horror flight to Toronto which crashed and flipped upside down $30,000 as a gesture of goodwill.

A total of 76 passengers and four crew were traveling on the flight from Minneapolis to Toronto Pearson Airport on February 17 when it lost control on the landing amid heavy winds.

The plane burst into flames and the wing snapped, prompting it to flip upside down, leaving passengers 'hanging like bats' from their seats.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived the accident, with 21 taken to hospital for treatment.

The offer comes amid an investigation into what went so wrong, with a collaborative effort from Transportation Safety Board of Canada, National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration.

CEO Ed Bastian defended his pilots, telling CBS there is only 'one level of safety' across the airline and its subsidiaries.

'All these pilots train for these conditions. They fly under all kinds of conditions at all of the airports in which we operate. So, no, there's nothing specific with respect to experience that I'd look to,' Bastian said.

Shocking images from the scene show the plane upside down on the ice-covered runway.

And audio recovered from the air traffic control tower between controllers and a Medevac helicopter has shed light on the incident.

About 2.13pm on February 17, one official could be heard saying: 'This airplane has just crashed.'

During a separate conversation between air traffic controllers and a Medevac helicopter, first responders in the skies revealed what they could see from above.

'Just so you're aware, there's people also walking around the aircraft there,' one person says.

'Yeah, we've got it,' another man responds. 'The aircraft is upside down and burning.'

Terrified passengers opened up about the experience in the aftermath of the crash, revealing they were 'hanging like bats' after the crash.

Pete Koukov, who had been filming ski content, recalled the harrowing experience of having to unstrap himself from his seat - whilst upside down - and hurry to the emergency exit.

'We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down hanging like bats,' he said.

'Just feeling lucky and happy I got to give the person I didn’t know sitting next to me a big hug, that we were OK, and see my friends who are here to pick me up from the airport and give them a big hug.'

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