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Long Beach Airport Shuts Down After JetBlue Emergency Landing

Christian Brown |
September 18, 2014 | 7:24 p.m. PDT

Contributor

(Greg Bishop/Creative Commons)
(Greg Bishop/Creative Commons)

JetBlue plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Long Beach Airport on Thursday morning.

Shortly after takeoff, the plane’s second engine caught fire, leaving nearly 140 passengers in a cabin full of smoke, airport officials said. The flight was headed to Austin, Texas. 

Although passengers said they saw flames coming from the right side of the plane, the Long Beach Fire Department maintained the fire never reached the cabin. 

“There was no sign inside of the cockpit,” said Fire Captain Richard Brandt. “The crew did a great job of deploying their chutes and deplaning all of the passengers.” 

The airport was shut down after the emergency landing, but reopened two hours later. Three people suffered minor injuries and were released, but one person was hospitalized.  

For several passengers, the experience was nothing less than terrifying.

Eric Domanic of Tustin said he heard a loud bang and felt a sudden jolt only five minutes after the plane ascended from the airport.

“Within seconds the whole cabin filled with a white, oily smoke,” he said. “You couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.”

Domanic, who was traveling with his wife, said most passengers were calm at first, but grew concerned when oxygen masks failed to deploy.

“There were two minutes where nothing was happening,” he said. “People just wanted to know what to do.”

Passenger Laura Andreasen, who was heading to Florida for a Disney cruise, praised the JetBlue staff for “making sure everyone was okay” after the incident.

“But it was definitely harrowing,” said Andreasen of Upland. “I got a refund because I don’t like to fly…I’m not going back on a plane. It was just too much of an experience.”  

In a statement, JetBlue said it will investigate the engine failure. In the meantime, passengers were reimbursed for Thursday’s flight.

Reach Contributor Christian Brown here, or follow him on Twitter



 

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