A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing this week after crew members reported an “unusual smell” coming from the plane’s cabin.
The disruption confirmed by the FAA caused Southwest 1685 to deviate from its flight path immediately after takeoff on Thursday – before landing back at Harry Reid International within just under half an hour.
The Boeing 737 was en route to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when passengers who had recently taken off from Vegas reported the strange smell – triggering the emergency maneuver and an ongoing investigation.
Several fire engines were filmed responding to the emergency after the plane returned to the tarmac. The video shows several fire engines stationed outside the Las Vegas terminal with their lights flashing.
At first, officials said the smell may have come from smoke, but after an initial inspection, officials said they found nothing unusual in the plane’s interior but still replaced it with another one that ended the five-hour journey.
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A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday after staff reported an “unusual smell” coming from the cabin. The plane flew from Las Vegas to Oklahoma and was replaced, although officials reportedly found nothing wrong with its interior
The FAA-confirmed disruption caused Southwest 1685 to deviate from its flight path immediately after takeoff, before landing back at Harry Reid International within just under half an hour and being swapped for another, non-smelly aircraft
I fly all the time, but this was the first time. From Vegas to Tulsa the next evening @SouthwestAir . Half an hour into the flight, the plane turns around and flies back to Vegas because there is a smell of fire in the cabin. Get out immediately and be surrounded by fire trucks. Crazy, but SW coped well pic.twitter.com/aU8o1tNKna
– Eddie Trunk (@EddieTrunk) October 14, 2023
Southwest Airlines wrote in an email over the weekend: “We did not find anything unusual following the inspection.”
‘[The aircraft]”, said the spokesman, “was exchanged and taken to its destination.”
Information from flight tracker FlightAware sheds further light on the incident, showing how the plane was forced to turn around in mid-air less than 30 minutes after takeoff.
Within another ten years, the plane was back on the ground after what the flight crew said was an uneventful landing – but footage from the immediate aftermath shows the pronounced reaction the maneuver provoked.
Filmed by a passenger on the plane, the clip – which lasts just 16 seconds – shows passengers peering through glass to catch a glimpse of arriving firefighters, who were working to determine the origin of the smell and search for smoke.
Asked Saturday what the crew members saw, the airline representative said: “To my knowledge it was not smoke… just an unusual smell.”
Days later — after the FAA announced it was investigating the problem — the cause remains unclear.
However, the agency confirmed over the weekend that there were no injuries due to the smell or the subsequent emergency landing – which the passenger who filmed the clip said was “handled”. [by the airline] So.’
Several fire engines were filmed responding to the emergency after the plane returned to the tarmac. The video shows several fire engines stationed outside the Las Vegas terminal with their lights flashing
Filmed by a passenger on the plane, the clip – which lasts just 16 seconds – shows passengers peering through glass to catch a glimpse of arriving firefighters, who were working to determine the origin of the smell and search for smoke
Radio host and heavy metal historian Eddie Trunk wrote, “I fly all the time, but this was the first time.”
He added: “Vegas to Tulsa this evening on @SouthwestAir.” Half an hour into the flight, the plane turns around and flies back to Vegas because there is a smell of fire in the cabin. Get off the plane immediately and be surrounded by fire trucks.
“Crazy, but SW handled it well.”
The post, which was viewed nearly 20,000 times, eventually received a response from the airline through another representative, who thanked Trunk for his apparent patience.
“Thanks for sharing this with us, Eddie,” they wrote. “Please know that the safety of our customers and crew members is our top priority.”
“We appreciate you staying with us.”
With federal authorities now investigating the incident, the cause remains unknown as of midday Sunday.
When asked for an update Sunday morning, airline officials did not immediately provide a response.
The incident comes about two months after an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Florida plunged more than 18,000 feet in just six minutes after passengers reported a “loud bang” and a “burning smell” in the cabin
Harrison Hove, a professor at the University of Florida, recounted the Aug. 10 ordeal in an interview, recalling how the ship descended within seconds of passengers hearing the noise and smelling the accompanying smell.
“We started descending very quickly, and as soon as we breathed, you started smelling this burning smell, that’s when I got really nervous,” Hove told WBTV News in Charlotte, recalling the flight saga after takeoff from Charlotte International
“The first few moments were really scary, really scary.”
The statement, released less than an hour after Hove and others successfully landed in Florida, was accompanied by photos showing officers being forced to wear oxygen masks to compensate for the change in pressure during the descent.
The incident comes two months after an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Florida crashed after passengers reported a “loud bang” and a “burning smell” in the cabin. The incident was later attributed to a mechanism that “failed mid-flight and reduced cabin pressure.”
Hove denied that the snaps failed to “capture the smell of burning, the loud bang or the banging in the ears” that passengers were exposed to during the scare, which officers explained as they disembarked came from “something”. [that] failed mid-flight and depressurized the cabin.’
He offered the update in real time on[It] can apparently be attributed to the use of the oxygen canisters.
“The wing flaps extended to immediately lower our altitude so there would be more oxygen,” he added, explaining how the pilots actually descended intentionally to solve the technical problem.
“It was scary, but in the end everything was okay.”
The FAA has not yet released an update on the status of its investigation into the more recent incident. Their investigation is still ongoing.