24-Year-Old Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-400ER Returns To Service After Engine Shut Down During Mid-Flight

Passengers onboard an international Delta Air Lines flight from New York to London Heathrow ended up in Boston on Friday, September 26, after the crew experienced a descent due to a loss of power from the aircraft’s left-hand engine. The flight, DL1, subsequently declared an emergency landing and safely landed at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

DL1 was operating between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and one of Europe’s busiest airports, London Heathrow Airport (LHR), on Friday, September 26, with 250 passengers onboard. The flight was approximately 120 nautical miles (222 km) east of Boston when the crew onboard requested support from air traffic control, as it appeared that they were losing power to their left-hand engine.

Emergency Landing At Boston

Credit: Flightradar24

The flight, operated by a 24-year-old Boeing 767-400ER, registration N840MH, had departed from New York at 21:05 on Friday, 35 minutes behind its scheduled departure time of 20:30. The flight, destined for London, was expected to travel across the North Atlantic Ocean, with an arrival time in the British capital at 08:50 the next morning. During the flight’s ascent, as reported by AvHerald, the crew noted that they were losing power and requested to lower descent while investigating the problem.

Initiating a drift-down, which is a procedure where an aircraft can no longer maintain its current altitude, descends to where the remaining engine can provide enough thrust. The crew subsequently shut down the left engine and declared an emergency landing at the closest major airport ( Boston). Emergency crews were requested to attend and met the aircraft on the apron. The plane landed safely, and all passengers were able to disembark the aircraft.

Simple Flying reached out to Delta Air Lines for comment on the flight; however, they did not immediately respond by the time this article was published.

N840MH Remained On The Apron At Boston Overnight

Credit: Shutterstock

On arrival in Boston, the aircraft landed on the airport’s runway 33L, 45 minutes after declaring an emergency landing. The airline pilots requested that emergency crews meet the aircraft to check the brakes for overheating. These were inspected and cleared before the aircraft continued to the apron. The affected airplane remained on the apron at Boston overnight, while being thoroughly investigated by the Delta Air Lines ground maintenance crew to check for airworthiness.

This resulted in the cancellation of the return DL2 flight from LHR to JFK, where all passengers were reaccommodated onto other flights. The aircraft was eventually cleared to reposition back to New York on Saturday, September 27, operating as DL9967 at 17:36, flying the 42-minute hop to JFK and landing at 18:31. Further details on the aircraft below as per ch-aviation:

The aircraft has since been reintroduced to regular operations, resuming scheduled flights on Sunday, September 28, as DL742 from New York JFK to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This flight operated without issue. Since then, the aircraft has operated without incident and has completed transatlantic flights, including a single rotation to Paris, France.

Not The First Time Experiencing Issues Mid-Flight

Credit: Flickr

The 24-year-old Boeing 767-400ER, which Delta will eventually replace with newer Airbus A350-1000 and A330neo aircraft, has experienced drama before mid-flight. The Boeing 767 was operating a service between New York JFK and Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) on Monday, September 7, 2009.

Just two hours after takeoff, the cabin lights began to flicker, and the left side oxygen masks deployed. This was due to a sulfur smell being identified, but no smoke was detected. The flight diverted to St John’s (YYT), Canada, without further incident.

A thorough investigation eventually identified that the forward lavatory had fractured wires, and a wire bundle was incorrectly routed. This led to the wires chafing over time and exposing conductors, resulting in an electrical short.