On Saturday, a JetBlue flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas after the pilots detected smoke in the cargo hold. However, the airline later said the report was a false alarm following an inspection.
Flight 1189, en route from New York to San Diego, experienced a concerning announcement from the pilot regarding an alert for potential fire or smoke in the cargo hold, as reported by passenger Seth Odell. The Salina Airport Authority confirmed that approximately 130 people were aboard the flight.
“The pilot came on [the intercom] and let us know that he was seeing an alert for smoke in the cargo bay,” Odell told NBC News. “Some passengers did report hearing a loud bang, too, and so we descended incredibly rapidly and landed in the extremely small airport in Salina.”
The Emergency Landing Came Minutes After Smoke Was Detected, According to a JetBlue Passenger
Odell revealed that there was merely a 10-minute interval between the pilot’s announcement and the subsequent landing in Kansas.
“So obviously everybody was starting to freak out,” Odell recalled. “Some people were crying. It was a little bit intense for a few minutes. Crew did a great job getting everybody organized extremely quickly. Obviously, once we were on the ground, everyone was just elated.”
#BREAKING : JetBlue flight makes emergency landing in Kansas after smoke alert in cargo hold
— upuknews (@upuknews1) September 23, 2024
Flight 1189 was traveling from New York to San Diego on Saturday evening when the pilot announced there was a smoke alert.#JetBlueflight #JetBlue #EmergencyLanding #Smoke #NewYork… pic.twitter.com/hr68jLNas2
Odell reported that upon landing, the plane’s pilot informed passengers there was no evidence of an actual fire.
“It sounds like they said some fire suppressant was used in the cargo area, but they’re not sure if there was a fire,” he explained.
The Salina Fire Department responded to the airport at approximately 6:20 p.m. CT, shortly before the plane landed about ten minutes later, as reported by Salina Fire Battalion Chief Derrick Herzog. The department assisted in offloading all 130 individuals on board, including both passengers and crew members. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
Herzog stated that there were no significant problems with the plane, although indicator lights had illuminated in the cockpit. The issue seems to be electrical, but the fire department is awaiting engineers to conduct a thorough investigation, he noted.