Update 12:10 p.m.
A Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at an Aleutian Islands military airport early Wednesday morning due to smoke inside the plane.
Ian Gregor, a spokesman with the Pacific Division of the Federal Aviation Administration, says Flight 884 “declared an emergency and diverted to Eareckson Air Station in Shemya,” at the far western edge of the Aleutian chain.
Airlines officials described the emergency as “smoke detected in the aircraft.”
The Boeing 777, which was carrying 276 passengers and 18 crew, landed without incident around 3:30 a.m. AKST, says Cathay Pacific spokeswoman Jennifer Pearson.
Air Force Col. Frank Flores — the regional commander for Eareckson and 20 other installations in the Pacific and Alaska — says the air station has a single 10,000-foot long asphalt runway with a modern instrument landing system.
“And it can handle a (Boeing 777); it can handle our larger aircraft. It was built up in the 40s to handle bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, and we’ve maintained it primarily as a divert runaway,” Flores says.
Old aircraft revetments, buildings and two other runways on the island date back to World War II and are mostly abandoned. An operational crew of about 120 people contracted through the Air Force was on the ground to handle the emergency landing. Flores says planes land at the base every day or so.
“We have a contingent of people who will respond to any aircraft arrival … (that) requires us to mobilize firefighters, airfield mangers and airfield personnel … (or) receive passengers and cargo,” Flores says. “When this airplane came in, an announcement was put over the net and all those people assembled in the airfield just like they would for any other arrival.”
Though it’s still unclear what grounded the flight beyond the smoke in the aircraft, Flores says the plane appears to have been “fixed” and could be in the air by noon Wednesday.
When it does leave Shemya, the airline says the plane will fly to Anchorage where another Cathay Pacific plane will take passengers to Los Angeles.
The Cathay Pacific flight is operated jointly with American Airlines and South America’s LAN Airlines.
Original story:
A Cathay Pacific flight traveling from Hong Kong to Los Angeles early Wednesday morning made an emergency landing at an Aleutian Islands military airport.
Airline officials say smoke detected in the aircraft caused Flight 884 to divert to the Eareckson Air Station on the island of Shemya Wednesday around 5:30 a.m. AKST
Officials say as of 7 o’clock this morning the Boeing 777 aircraft was safely on the ground and all passengers and crew were safe.
Messages to Eareckson Air Station—under control of the U.S. Air Force—have not been returned as of this morning.
The airline says preliminary information shows that 276 passengers and 18 crew were onboard the plane. The flight was operated jointly with American Airlines and South America’s LAN Airlines.
