Southwest Airlines Emergency Landing!!!

BoeingDrew

Well-Known Member
The Story
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By JOHN McDONALD and JEFF COLLINS

The Orange County Register


Five passengers were treated at John Wayne Airport this morning and a sixth was taken to a hospital after a Southwest Airlines 737 jet filled with smoke and was forced to make an emergency landing, officials said.

Flight 506 had taken off from John Wayne Airport bound for Oakland with 108 passengers and five crew members aboard. But the jetliner turned around about three miles out after the pilot reported that he had smoke in the cabin.

It touched down at 8:24 a.m., pulled to the gate, and the plane was evacuated.

Officials said the smoke was generated by a leak.

Local authorities said an auxiliary power unit leaked fluid onto a hot piece of machinery, and the pilot reported having smoke in the cockpit.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said a ventilation unit leaked fluid onto an engine, pumping smoke into the cabin.

Paramedics treated five passengers at the scene, and one woman in her 60s was transported to Anaheim Memorial Hospital. Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Steve Miller said the woman was not badly hurt, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Ann McCarley, a spokeswoman for John Wayne Airport, said the incident would be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

"We’re thankful we’re down safe," said Janie Merkle, 42, of Irvine, one of the passengers. "We had just taken off, just over the ocean when we saw smoke coming from the cockpit. We smelled fumes. The flight attendants told us that the pilot knew what was happening and he was handling it."

A man she identified as the pilot addressed passengers as she was being interviewed on her cell phone.

"I had my hands full but I told the flight attendants we weren’t burning but to prepare for the emergency landing," the pilot could be heard telling passengers. "We landed backwards (approaching from the ocean). We went up and came right back without going around."

Eichinger said all the passengers but the woman taken to the hospital boarded another plane and continued their trip to Oakland.

"My husband and I are going for a little business and a little pleasure," Merkle said before reboarding. "He has some business and then we’ll go spend time in the wine country. That was some flight; I was really shook up."

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I saw this story on A.net and thought I would post it for you guys to read.
 
Pretty exciting stuff - I work in a skyrise close to SNA and all the excitement we saw today was the President landing. I doubt he was on that plane though - I hear he does not like the seating policy!
 
LOL
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, I wonder what AF1's seating policy is.
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LOL
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, I wonder what AF1's seating policy is.
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You wanna know what must be the coolest thing about flying AF1? You outrank the President when it comes to flying decisions.

How many people get to say that they have the final word over the President?
 
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Hey I wonder if he ever flys it himself, he is a pilot.

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I don't think he's flown since the 2-year Texas Guard gig (that's apparently questionable, from what I've read).
 
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Didn't he just land a COD on a carrier?

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I believe he rode the COD on the carrier.
 
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Didn't he just land a COD on a carrier?

[/ QUOTE ] Of course not!
He'd probably kill himself if they let him try!
 
He flew the aircraft. He enjoyed the way it handled.

He deferred on the landing to the more experienced pilot.
 
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I thought he flew out in an F18

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That's what he wanted to do, but the Secret Service, in their infinite wisdom and paranoia, didn't trust him being in a jet with just him and one of his military officers...go figure.

They wanted the S-3 so there could be SS riding in the back.
 
Nope, he landed in an S-3 Viking (a.k.a. Navy One). They picked that one because it is the most stable plane that lands on a carrier.
 
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Nope, he landed in an S-3 Viking (a.k.a. Navy One). They picked that one because it is the most stable plane that lands on a carrier.

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And the fact that another pilot could sit in the back (with a secret service agent) for that extra degree of safety.
 
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