A U.S. Airways Boeing 757 landed safely in Stephenville on Sunday after a smell of smoke was detected in the aircraft’s cabin area.
Erring on the side of caution, the decision was made to declare an emergency landing at about 10 p.m. that night.
The Bay St. George RCMP were called for assistance at Stephenville airport and Emergency Services and Customs/Border Services kicked into action as well.
The flight, en route from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States to Brussels, Belgium made the precautionary landing without incident with the 149 passengers and nine-member crew offloading into Stephenville airport terminal.
Sergeant Steve Ettinger of the Bay St. George RCMP said passengers stayed at the Stephenville airport and were reported as being understanding and cooperative with the situation.
A back up aircraft arrived at about 5:35 a.m. this morning with technicians aboard. Those technicians worked on the aircraft until shortly before it left in the afternoon.
The aircraft that came in took on the stranded passengers and departed Stephenville at about 8:45 a.m., continuing their journey to Brussels.
Larry Smith, airport manager, said while there was a smell of smoke there was no actual smoke seen in the aircraft and that it was deemed to be caused by a malfunction in an electrical component in one of the seats.
The aircraft was being ferried back to the United States by the crew, leaving from Stephenville at 3:47 p.m. on Monday.
