(MENAFN- Live Mint) A Delta Air Lines (DL) flight attendant accidentally deployed an emergency evacuation slide on an Airbus A220 at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) on Saturday evening (October 25, 2025).

This led to damages estimated at around $70,000, Aviation Z2Z report claimed. The flight wound up also got delayed by four hours, from 5:30 pm to 9:11 pm.

What exactly happened?

The 1L boarding door was opened while armed, so the slide auto‐deployed onto the ramp.

The crew member, a veteran with 26 years of experience, mistakenly lifted the door handle after arming it for departure, triggering the automatic deployment of the forward left-hand slide - the same door used for the jetbridge connection.

As the aircraft prepared for pushback, flight attendants armed the doors in line with standard pre-departure procedures.

The forward crew member then "unintentionally" raised the door handle while the system was armed, activating the emergency power assist function, the report added.

Once engaged, the mechanism automatically forces the door open and deploys the slide within seconds, leaving no time to stop the process.

The deployment caused an operational standstill.

The cost of the mistake

Emergency evacuation slides are costly components, with replacements for smaller jets like the A220 typically priced between $50,000 and $70,000, the report claimed.

Besides, repacking and repairing can cost $20,000 while the total event cost to the operation, including hotels, crew, and repositioning, can be a six figure expense.

Passengers were trapped

As the slide inflated directly against the jetbridge, passengers were temporarily trapped onboard until engineers manually detached the slide and reconnected the bridge.

It then took“about an hour” to disconnect and remove the slide. Meanwhile, a flight attendant apologised saying that in her“26‐year career, never happened.”

A claimed,“The flight attendant accidentally triggered the emergency slide...He did apologize and was quite flustered, cited over the 26 years of career, it never happened. Can someone explain how though? Shouldn't it be something with quite a safety check for making this kind of mistake?”

Delta flight attendant's $70,000 mistake - 'blows evacuation slide, stranding passengers' | What happened exactly?

Numerous passengers then misconnected in Salt Lake City and got stuck spending the night there, although some would have wound up getting re-booked especially through Atlanta, another report said.

Understanding Inadvertent Slide Deployments (ISDs)

ISDs are uncommon but not rare.

Airbus data from previous years suggested an average of up to three inadvertent deployments per day across the global fleet.

Most occur during the disarming phase after landing when crew members prepare to open doors for arrival.

Despite strict cross-check procedures meant to catch such errors, mistakes still happen-particularly at stations where one flight attendant works alone at the front door.

The risk isn't just financial.

An unplanned deployment on arrival could seriously injure ground personnel or damage nearby equipment like jetbridges and service vehicles. Recognising this, some airlines have introduced additional safeguards.

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