Vacationers on a flight to Fort Lauderdale acquired a serious scare after they had been instructed to placed on their life jackets after a suspected mechanical downside compelled their airplane to return to Jamaica.
The incident occurred Sunday on Spirit Airways Flight 270 from Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport.
A Spirit spokesperson mentioned the airplane suffered a suspected mechanical concern and returned to Montego Bay as a precaution.
However through the incident, vacationers had been instructed to placed on their life jackets.
A video posted on social media confirmed passengers sporting yellow life jackets whereas a flight crew member might be heard giving directions.
Passengers mentioned they had been within the air for about 10 minutes when the pilot instructed everybody to arrange for a water touchdown. Greater than 200 passengers had been then requested to placed on life jackets.
Shancy Faison was on the flight together with her husband and mentioned her life jacket didn't open at first, inflicting a momentary panic.
“They didn't specify what was fallacious. We had been coming again, making a U-turn again to the island, to the airport. Then shortly after, I might say about 10 to 15 minutes after touchdown, earlier than we arrived, she made an announcement saying that we had been going to have an emergency water touchdown. That's when everybody bought scared,” Faison mentioned. “It was simply chaotic. Everybody began grabbing their emergency vests underneath their seats. We noticed the flight attendants operating forwards and backwards on the airplane. Some mentioned to placed on the vests, others mentioned to not placed on the vests. “Then I reached underneath my seat to attempt to retrieve my water vest and the case the vest was in wouldn’t open.”
The airplane landed safely and the friends disembarked. No accidents had been reported.
“Security is our high precedence and our upkeep group will totally consider the plane. We apologize to our friends for any inconvenience and have organized a brand new plane to finish the flight to Fort Lauderdale,” Spirit mentioned in an announcement.