The smell of smoke forced the American Airlines flight 3454 to make emergency landing at Tampa International Airport, Florida, on Thursday, April 24.
The Embraer ERJ 145, belonging to Envoy Air and operated by American Airlines, was carrying 46 passengers and 3 crew members from Tallahassee to Miami. The passengers included Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Alberto Carvalho.
The flight took off at 8:30 pm, after a 1 hour 45 minutes delay from the original scheduled time. Some passengers reported that after about 30 minutes into the flight, they heard an explosion, following which the smoke could be smelled in the plane.
However, according to Laura Masvidal, the spokesperson of American Airlines, there was no explosion and the decision for emergency landing was made due to smell of smoke in the cockpit.
The flight made an uneventful emergency landing at about 9:32 p.m. All the passengers and crew members exited safely.
The passengers were accommodated in hotels. They were given the choice to either take a shuttle for Miami or stay in hotel and take the flight to Miami next morning.
The cause of smoke is being investigated.
WestJet flight 662 had to return and make an emergency landing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on February 3rd.
American Airlines flight AA-2250 had to make an emergency landing in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 26th.
Volotea flight V7-1368 had to return and make an emergency landing at Venice Marco Polo Airport, Venice, Italy, on July 27th.
Air Arabia flight G9-413 suffered a bird strike in Coimbatore, India, on October 29th.