Man Looks Out Plane Window at Take-Off, Delays Flight Over What He Can See

A man was left concerned right before his flight took off as he noticed part of the airplane’s wing missing.

Kevin Droniak, who is from Connecticut but now living in New York City, recently took a trip and filmed what he saw from the window seat of his flight right before it took off, revealing that he alerted flight attendants to it just in time.

Droniak, who didn’t wish to reveal which airline he flew with, told Newsweek: “Before take-off I was looking out my window and noticed what looked like a piece missing from the wing. It turns out, it is just a cosmetic issue and doesn’t effect the plane, but it startled me.

“I was always taught ‘if you see something, say something.’ So I told the flight attendant and he got in touch with the pilot and they assured me it was fine. The flight (6 hours to Seattle) was also fine and not bumpy.”

In the video, which received over 600,000 views on TikTok since it was first posted on November 3, 2024, we see Droniak talking to the camera in front of an image of the plane’s wing with a piece seemingly missing.

“I delayed my plane earlier today because I saw this before we were about to take off,” he says in the clip as he points at the wing of the plane. “The plane was starting to move at this point, like getting ready to take off and I’m like, I need to say something because this is really concerning.”

He then explains that he hit the call button but the flight attendants were already sat for takeoff. However, he told one of them that the issue couldn’t wait so the staff member came over.

By this stage, others on the plane had become concerned and the pilot stopped the plane, left the cockpit and walked down the aisle to look out the window. “He told me that it was a cosmetic issue and that it was not going to affect the plane flying,” he says in the video.

In fact, Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University, previously told Newsweek that there were “systems for quickly approving (or confirming prohibition of) flight with parts faulty or missing, like this.”

He said: “It’s a non-structural aerodynamic fairing, and if expediency required a single flight without it, I don’t think it would have endangered the flight, although would have increased fuel consumption a small amount.”

Domestic air travel in the U.S. continues to boom. In 2023, more than 819 million passengers traveled by plane between U.S. airports.

Droniak’s video received thousands of comments from people sharing their reactions.

“This is the second video I’ve seen of this happening. I am married to an aerospace engineer so I know about the minimum equipment requirement but they should just let ppl know over intercom,” said Marissa.

Meanwhile, Angelica commented: “I don’t think you are overreacting at all!”

Jessica wrote: “I would totally tell them there is an issue with the ‘right falangie,'” in reference to a famous joke from the sitcom Friends.

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