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Delta said Sunday a post-flight inspection showed no damage to the aircraft.

Not surprising, as a firework is designed to disintegrate and the outer surface of a plane is not flammable. Bird strikes are probably a higher risk.

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Many fireworks are designed to explode at altitude. The biggest risk is probably if the firework is ingested into an engine (also a major risk for bird strikes).

Given the sheer quantity of energy that's already being continuously released in an engine would a small firework actually pose more danger than a bird? There's no bones in a firework after all.

Even small bird strikes are usually a non-event, as the engines are designed to withstand them (there's a very well-known YouTube video of frozen chickens being fired into one, and those are already a lot bigger and harder than most birds they'll encounter.) It's the big ones that make the news.

99% of them also don’t have enough explosive force to do more than damage a hand.

What about the 1%?

Clearly the plane wasn’t hit by one, eh, or we’d have an entirely different headline.

I wouldn't be concerned about damage to the aircraft, I would be worried about whether it messed with the avionics.

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