Delta investigates “rolling” aircraft

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines says it will look into an incident the company describes as “extremely rare”. At 5 o’clock this morning, one of its planes rolled off a taxiway at Atlanta’s airport.

Two Delta maintenance workers were testing the engine inside a Boeing 737-700. They were doing what’s known as a run up. Think of it like being in a parked car and pressing your foot on the gas. When the Delta workers did that, the aircraft rolled right off the taxiway.

Now that the company knows what happened, Delta spokesman Anthony Black says the next step is finding out how it happened. What was the weather like when the plane rolled? Was the taxiway wet and what was wrong with the plane?