Courtesy Airbus

The Airbus A319 is a narrow-body jet that can seat about 124 passengers in a standard configuration.

JET DEBRIS

Rebecca Lopez reports

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DALLAS — Parts from an Airbus A319 jet separated and fell to the ground after the aircraft took off from Love Field Tuesday afternoon.

The parts were described as a metal panel and an emergency exit chute.

Metal debris was recovered from Love Field property. Additional debris is believed to have fallen from the aircraft over some nearby apartments in the 3100 block of Webb Chapel Road.

Police and other agencies searched for an orange-colored inflatable escape slide, but called off the search later in the evening.

Mike Turner, a spokesman for Associated Air Center, confirmed that an emergency exit deployed as the jet took off on a test flight about 1:30 p.m.

The plane, which has a two-part panel that keeps the slide inside, is new and crews were working to put an interior inside. It was confirmed that a maintenance error led to the deployment of the slide, which weighs more than 100 pounds.

The jet returned to Love Field and landed safely. The aircraft was operating with a skeleton crew and had no passengers aboard. No injuries have been reported.

The FAA confirmed that is was investigating the incident.

Turner said the jet was not operated by an airline, but he declined to be more specific about its owner. Associated Air Center is a maintenance facility.

The aircraft took off from Runway 31R.

The Airbus A319 is a narrow-body, twin-engine jet that typically is designed to carry 124 passengers. More than 1,200 of this model are in use around the world, according to the manufacturer's Web site.