Emergency slide falls from United Airlines fight, lands in Chicago backyard

Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on July 18, 2023

(CHICAGO) — It wasn’t a bird or a plane hurtling from the sky, although it did fall from the latter.

The Federal Aviation Administration said they are investigating after a Chicago resident found an aircraft emergency escape slide in his backyard just after noon on Monday.

The inflatable slide, which is believed to have fallen from a United Airlines flight from Zurich, Switzerland, fell onto the roof of a northwest Chicago home, which suffered minor damage from the impact.

“My father-in-law and my son are having lunch in the kitchen, and they hear a loud boom on the side of the wall,” homeowner Patrick Devitt told ABC affiliate WLS.

Surveillance footage from a nearby home showed the large slide plummeting from the sky.

Devitt told WLS that he found the silver-colored plastic slide in his backyard and dragged it to the street.

“When it’s all stretched out…it’s larger than a small car. It’s a very, very big piece of equipment that fell,” Devitt said. He also said he called 911, after which FAA officials arrived to investigate.

Meanwhile, miles away at Chicago O’Hare Airport, maintenance workers discovered that an emergency evacuation slide was missing from United Airlines Flight 12, a Boeing 767 that had recently landed following a flight from Zurich, Switzerland, according to the FAA. Devitt told WLS that United Airlines representatives came to his house later Monday to retrieve the slide.

United Airlines confirmed that the flight was carrying 155 customers and 10 crew. United Airlines said in a statement that immediately contacted the FAA, which is not investigating the matter.

No injuries were reported on the ground where the slide landed or onboard the aircraft, but the incident startled residents who live below the flight paths to O’Hare.

“Just seeing that in my backyard, I was like ‘Wow, this really happened,’” Devitt said. “This fell off an airplane and landed in our backyard.”

ABC News’ Victoria Beaule and Chris Looft contributed to this report.