Smoke fills cabin on Delta flight

DELTA BOEING 757-251 N545US (MSN 26492)

A Delta Air Lines flight traveling from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL/KATL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX/KLAX) was forced to make an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after the plane's cabin appeared to fill with smoke, the airline said. 

Delta Flight 2846, which departed Atlanta from runway 26L at 17.79 (UTC), was enroute to Los Angeles when, what a Delta spokesperson described, a strong smoky odor started to fill the cabin.

Flight crew members then also observed a performance issue with one of the aircraft's two engines, prompting the diversion, the spokesperson said. It was unclear whether the smoke was related to the engine issue.

“Everything was normal and then suddenly there was smoke in the cabin,” Mason Weiner, a passenger on the flight who captured video of faint smoke flooding the plane.

"Someone started yelling there was a fire, but the flight attendants (in a very professional way) told everyone to chill, it wasn’t a fire, and keep seated," Weiner said.

The plane landed safely at Albuquerque International (ABQ/KABQ) on runway 08 at 20.57 (UTC). Delta said its teams were arranging for the flight to continue on another aircraft due to arrive in Albuquerque later Tuesday evening. 

Weiner said the plane had been met by a "full welcome of fire trucks and everything" when it landed in Albuquerque. He said he and other passengers were waiting for a new plane to arrive to transport them to Los Angeles. He added that Delta had "ordered Chick-fil-A for everyone."

“Nothing is important than the safety of our customers and crew. “That’s why our flight crew followed procedures to safely divert today’s flight 2846 to Albuquerque," the Delta spokesperson said, apologizing for the delay to passengers' travel plans.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Delta

Code: DL/DAL

Aircraft: Boeing 757-26D

Registration: N819DX

Serial Number: 33959

Engines: 2 x PW PW2037

First Flew: 14/05/2004

Age: 18Yrs. 5Mts

Aircraft History
25/05/2004 Shanghai Airlines B-2857   Stored 01/2015 as N346BC

15/09/2015 Delta Air Lines N819DX  

Story sourced from here

Delta flight makes emergency landing over engine issues after smoke fills cabin (nbcnews.com)