‘Loud boom’ heard as object lands in backyard, reports say. It fell from an airplane

An Illinois man was on his way home from work when family members having lunch in his kitchen heard a “loud boom hit the side of the house,” according to local news reports.

“They don’t think anything of it,” Patrick Devitt told WLS. “Maybe like a half hour later my father-in-law walks outside and finds a slide in the backyard.”

“A very, very large slide,” Devitt added.

He’d later learn it was an emergency evacuation slide that had fallen from a United Airlines airplane landing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Monday, July 17, according to WGN.

Maintenance workers at the airport discovered the plane’s slide was missing shortly after it landed from Switzerland, according to a preliminary statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The flight landed at 12:35 p.m., according to FlightAware.

“We immediately contacted the FAA and are working with our team to better understand the circumstances around this matter,” a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement to McClatchy News.

The Boeing 767-300 plane, with 10 crew members and 155 passengers onboard, landed safely.

Authorities then found the slide “in a nearby neighborhood,” according to the FAA.

The slide caused damage to Devitt’s roof shingles, kitchen window screen and gutter downspout, WLS reported.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

This story was originally published July 20, 2023 at 11:19 AM with the headline "‘Loud boom’ heard as object lands in backyard, reports say. It fell from an airplane."