American Airlines flight makes emergency landing due to smoke in cabin
An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to “smoke in the cabin”, according to a passenger.
A “mechanical issue” meant the 24 October flight from New York’s JFK to Los Angeles in California had to touch down in Madison, Wisconsin instead.
Passenger Tom Rapier, a photographer and cameraman, tweeted: “Just did an emergency landing in Madison, WI” caused by “smoke in cabin”.
“All safe and off plane,” he added.
An American Airlines social media representative responded that “Safety will always be our top concern. Our teams will take excellent care of you and have you on your way again as soon as we can.”
Mr Rapier commended the AA team onboard the flight, saying that the “crew was excellent”.
An American Airlines spokesperson told The Independent: “American Airlines flight 3 with service from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) diverted to Madison (MSN) due to a mechanical issue.
“The aircraft landed safely and without incident at 2.19pm local time, and all customers deplaned normally. Customers boarded a replacement aircraft and re-departed for LAX at 7.30pm local time.
“We never want to disrupt our customers travel plans and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
There were no injuries reported among the Airbus A321T’s 102 customers and seven crew members.
It’s not the first time that smoke onboard has disrupted a flight.
In 2019, a British Airways flight was forced to evacuate after smoke filled the cabin 10 minutes before it landed in Spain.
Passengers were forced to leave the plane by the emergency slides on to the runway after arriving at Valencia Airport.
The scene onboard was described by one traveller, Lucy Brown, as “like a horror film”.
“Terrifying experience on flight to Valencia,” tweeted Ms Brown. “Flight filled with smoke and had to be emergency evacuated. Thankfully everyone safe.”
Three people were treated for smoke inhalation while another 12 were treated for minor injuries they received when they slid down the emergency slides, according to local government officials in Valencia.
A BA spokesperson said at the time: “Flight BA422 from Heathrow to Valencia experienced a technical issue on its landing approach into Valencia.
“All our customers were evacuated safely by our crew and met by the airport’s emergency services. There were 175 customers on board the flight, with six cabin crew and two pilots. Three customers were taken to hospital as a precaution and have since been discharged.”
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