Delta passengers spend night on remote Canadian military base

DELTA BOEING 757-251 N545US (MSN 711)

270 Delta passengers and crew were forced to spend the night on a chilly and remote Canadian military base after their Detroit-bound plane made an emergency landing due to a mechanical issue.

Delta flight 135 from Amsterdam (AMS/EHAM) to Detroit (DET/KDET) was diverted to Goose Bay (YYR/CYYR) “out of an abundance of caution,” a spokesperson for the airline told reporters.

The plane ran into a problem with its de-icing mechanism for one of its engines and needed to make an emergency landing somewhere with an airstrip long enough to accommodate the large aircraft, passengers told reports. The passengers ended up waiting for more than 20 hours to get back in the air and on their way to Michigan in the nightmarish scenario.

After landing at the Goose Bay Airport, the travelers waited on the tarmac for between five and seven hours for another plane to arrive to transport them to Detroit, passenger Nathan Johnson said.

But, when the second plane finally arrived and everyone boarded, they were told that the flight crew had timed out of workable hours and they would all need to leave the plane that just arrived, passenger Johnson, 45, said.

Another passenger who was traveling with her husband and their 4-year-old detailed the disastrous trip on her Instagram.

“Boarded a new plane after waiting 7+ hours, waited an hour after boarding for take-off only to hear that the crew and pilot have finished their allotted hours of flying and need to rest now for 10-12 hours. Now Delta is looking for accommodations for us all,” Shikha Joshi wrote in an Instagram story.

The tired travelers — some of whom didn’t have coats for the Canadian cold — were eventually transported in groups of 25 to 30 via school buses to nearby military barracks.

“We were shuttled back to the rooms with no understanding of what our next time was going to be as far as when we should wake up or when we should be ready,” he said. “There was no communication.”

There, they were given rooms with beds and basic amenities to get some shuteye, as well as snacks and water. Many passengers, however, didn’t have any spare clothes or essentials which they packed into checked luggage.

Johnson and his wife were forced to sleep in the clothes they had been wearing since beginning their trip home from Munich, Germany.

After a few hours at the barracks, buses arrived to bring the passengers to a "third plane". Their flight finally left the Canadian base at 5 p.m., with snow falling outside, Johnson said.

“Crew duty times were impacted due to weather and runway conditions at the Goose Bay airport causing the airport to suspend operations,” Delta said in a statement. “Delta sent additional aircraft to Goose Bay to bring customers to their final destination Monday.”

Their airline said affected customers will be compensated for the very long delay.

First Aircraft Information:

Delta Airlines

Code: DL/DAL

Flight Number: DL135

Aircraft: Airbus A330-323

Registration: N811NW

Serial Number: 0690

Engines: 2 x PW PW4168A

First Flew: 21st July 2005

Age: 18.6 Years

The second and third aircrafts to arrive were

Second Aircraft Information:

Delta Airlines:

Code: DL/DAL

Flight Number: DL9972

Aircraft: Airbus A330-223

Registration: N816NW

Serial Number: 0827

Engines: 2 x PW PW4168A

First Flew: 14th March 2007

Age: 16.9Years

Third Aircraft Information:

Delta Airlines

Code: DL/DAL

Flight Number: DL9964

Aircraft: Airbus A330-223

Registration: N851NW

Serial Number: 0609

Engines: 2 x PW PW4168A

First Flew: 8th June 2004

Age: 19.5 Years