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Smell of smoke cause for diverted landing
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (CNN) -- A United jet en route from Chicago to London made an emergency landing Saturday night after smoke was reported in the cabin, officials said. The Boeing 777 landed safely at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, and all 290 passengers were unhurt, said spokesman Phil Johnson. Between 10 and 12 crew members were aboard the plane, a United spokesman said. The pilot of United flight 928, which took off from Chicago around 7:05 p.m. ET, radioed to the tower at 8:06 p.m. ET that passengers saw smoke in the cabin and had reported that the floor felt warm, airline spokesman Jeff Green said. The plane landed in Grand Rapids 20 minutes later. "It was a scent, from what I was hearing -- a scent of smoke," Johnson said. "I have no reports as to intensity or to how thick it was." Green said there were no indications of a fire aboard the aircraft. Fire crews met the plane on the runway and immediately checked out the plane and the aft baggage compartment, where there also was an indication of smoke, but found nothing, Johnson said. "They did sense some hot spots in that aft baggage compartment," he said, "but they were unable to locate any more hot spots and the smoke had dissipated in the cabin." Officials worked to take the passengers off quickly, Green said. The passengers left on a roll-up stairway, then walked across the tarmac to the terminal. "We are working on getting a similar airplane into Grand Rapids tonight so we can pick those passengers up and bring them back to Chicago, then take them to London tomorrow," Green said. Maintenance crews will take the plane in Grand Rapids out of service to try to figure out what may have caused the smoke, he said. While the Grand Rapids airport does not typically handle wide-bodied planes like the 777, Johnson said, it is used to responding to emergencies like this one. "We are a standard divert point for Chicago O'Hare," he said. "Not just for emergencies like this, but for weather -- from Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee." Grand Rapids is about 120 miles northeast of Chicago.
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