Answers sought in fainting spells on jet
Homeland Security NTARC News | 4/1/2011 |
The Dayton Daily News reports pilots on American Flight 547 declared an emergency then landed in Dayton after two flight attendants reported dizziness and four passengers passed out.
By Kelli Wynn and Dave Larsen
Staff WritersUpdated 9:11 PM Friday, April 1, 2011
Staff WritersUpdated 9:11 PM Friday, April 1, 2011
DAYTON — American Airlines officials are analyzing flight recorder data to determine the problem that forced a flight to Chicago to make an emergency landing Friday at Dayton International Airport.
Information downloaded from the plane’s flight recorders was sent to the airline’s maintenance base in Tulsa, Okla., said Ed Martelle, an American Airlines spokesman.
“They can very often identify where the problem lies before they even have to start moving metal,” he said.
Martelle did not expect to know before Saturday what forced American Airlines Flight 547 to make an emergency landing in Dayton.
Stranded passengers were taken to Chicago on Friday afternoon on a replacement aircraft, Martelle said. Airline mechanics arrived on the replacement flight to inspect the diverted plane for problems and make any necessary repairs, if possible, he said.
Pilots on Flight 547 declared an emergency, then landed in Dayton on Friday morning after several of the 132 people aboard complained of illnesses.
At least four passengers fainted aboard the flight from Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Oxygen masks were deployed, and the plane diverted to land at the Dayton airport.
The incident happened about 8:15 a.m. Friday, said Terrence Slaybaugh, director of the Dayton airport.
Pilots initially attributed the problem to the airplane’s air system, Slaybaugh said.
Martelle said that flight attendants became dizzy and asked the pilots to drop the oxygen masks. Four passengers did not get their masks on and lost consciousness, Martelle said.
The plane was a Boeing 737 manufactured in 1999, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was carrying 126 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants, Martelle said.
A passenger, Christina Saull of Washington, D.C., said the plane had pushed out of the gate at Reagan but had not left the tarmac when an announcement was made about problems with the air and cabin pressurization system.
Saull, who was traveling with her husband Bradley, said maintenance personnel arrived, came onto the plane and went into the cockpit. The plane eventually took off, she said.
“Halfway through the flight, the woman in the row behind us … we thought she had a seizure,” Saull said.
They quickly learned that woman and another woman next to her had passed out. Then some passengers who were 10 rows in front of the Saulls started complaining about smelling fumes.
“I didn’t smell anything,” she said. “Other passengers were complaining about being light-headed ... Five minutes later, they were announcing they were going to drop the masks.”
Saull said she thought the passengers were pretty calm despite the situation.
“There were no warning lights or indicators,” Saull said of what was going on during the emergency landing.
Once on the ground, people flying for business reasons began working out of coffee shops in the airport.
“There were definitely people having meetings via cellphones, sitting in Starbucks,” Saull said.
Medics from Dayton, Vandalia and Butler Twp. were dispatched to the airport, followed by two additional medical calls, said Gil Turner, an airport spokesman. One flight attendant and two passengers were transported to area hospitals for treatment.
One of the ill passengers was accompanied to the hospital by a family member who also was on the flight, Martelle said. Both people later rejoined the rest of the stranded passengers at the airport, he said.
The condition of the flight attendant and second passenger who were hospitalized was unknown, Martelle said.
An additional passenger was examined at the airport but refused medical transport, Turner said.
The remaining passengers awaited the replacement flight in American Airlines holding area at the airport. “Getting them to Chicago is the ultimate goal,” Martelle said.
Transporting the passengers to their final destinations was a challenge because it is a Friday and flights are full, Slaybaugh said.
The passengers’ luggage was removed from the original plane to be reloaded on the replacement flight. There was nothing to indicate an act of terrorism, Martelle said.
There were 140 people on board the flight, which had originated at Washington Reagan National Airport near the District of Columbia.
Pilots apparently initially believed the problem was due to the airplane’s air system.American Airlines spokesman Ed Martelle told the press that flight attendants became dizzy and asked the pilots to deploy the oxygen masks. Four passengers did not get their masks on and reportedly lost consciousness.
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