Police Officers in Roosevelt, Long Island, responded at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to a call for a suspicious object on the front lawn of 215 Lincoln Ave., according to detectives. Upon arrival, officers found a three-foot by four-foot cone shaped piece of metal that had fallen out of the sky onto the lawn. An investigation revealed that it was a part from a commercial aircraft.
An engine tail cone popped off a Delta airlines jet shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport.
It plummeted thousands of feet into a Long Island neighborhood before landing harmlessly on someone's lawn.
FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said Friday the jet doesn't need the part to fly and passengers weren't in any danger.
Neither the pilots nor people on the ground noticed the mishap when it happened.
The flight continued to its destination. Salac says Delta personnel reported the part missing after the plane landed in Tokyo.
The 20-pound part measured 4-feet long and 3-feet in diameter. A resident spotted it hours later and called police.
