A Delta Air Lines flight was forced to return to Atlanta on Monday morning after a smoky haze filled the cabin, prompting an emergency evacuation on the runway, reports New York Post.
The Boeing 717, operating as Delta Flight 876, was en route to South Carolina with 99 passengers and crew on board when the pilot turned the aircraft back to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 8.30 am.
As the plane landed, all passengers were evacuated via emergency slides. No injuries were reported.
“We are being evacuated off the plane,” a passenger said in a video shared by 11Alive News. “I recorded the whole time. I recorded the evacuation, smoke and all.”
Footage taken before landing showed passengers covering their noses inside the hazy cabin.
Another passenger told CNN that haze began to fill the plane five to 10 minutes after taking off from Atlanta.
“A few of us passengers started to question why or what was going on. People started screaming ‘smoke, smoke, smoke,’” the passenger said. “We were in the air for about 20 minutes, and it seemed to take a while before we landed.”
A Delta spokesperson confirmed the incident, saying, “The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologise to our customers for the experience.”
The federal aviation administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into the incident.
Second smoke-related incident in days
Monday’s emergency landing came just two days after another Delta flight, bound for Australia, was forced to return to Los Angeles due to smoke in the galley.
Flight DL43 had taken off from Los Angeles International Airport for Sydney before the crew detected smoke and decided to turn back. The Airbus A350-900, carrying 162 passengers, landed safely.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,” a Delta spokesperson said at the time. “That’s why the flight crew followed established procedures to return to Los Angeles (LAX) after smoke was detected in the galley. We apologise to our customers for the delay in their travels.”
The aircraft landed without incident and taxied to the gate normally.
Toronto crash-landing leaves eight injured
Last week, another Delta aircraft flipped upside-down and caught fire after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Delta Flight 4819, which had departed from Minneapolis, crash-landed on a snowy runway, leaving eight people injured. Images and videos from the scene showed the plane upside-down with passengers and crew evacuating the wreckage.
Everyone on board survived the crash. Delta later offered each passenger $30,000 in compensation, but the airline now faces legal trouble as the first lawsuits from the accident have already been filed.