Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 (Flight 433) makes emergency landing at Daytona Beach.
A Spirit Airlines A319 in the old Spirit colors similar to the accident plane (which was also in the old colors). Photo by Fernando Montalvo for Velozia Air.
I was playing dodge ball with a friend’s kids yesterday (June 30, 2009) when I noticed a Spirit Airlines A319 departing Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) at approximately 6:00 PM EDT. I found that strange enough to stop playing for a minute as DAB is not serviced by Spirit and the only reason I could think of for the airplane to be here was some kind of trouble. Turns out I was right, as a Spirit Airlines A319 (registration N524NK) performed an emergency landing at DAB after smoke was reported in the passenger cabin. The plane landed at 1:15 PM EDT. There were 143 passengers on board and three were sent to get treatment at nearby Halifax Medical Center for smoke inhalation.
The plane departed Chicago, Illinois at 9:50 AM CDT and was supposed to land at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FLL) at 1:50 PM EDT. At around 1:00 PM EDT flight attendants informed the pilot of smoke in the cabin and DAB was selected as the location for the emergency landing. Passengers reported that the smell of smoke in the cabin was strong, irritated the eyes, and caused difficulty breathing. Emergency oxygen masks were triggered, but a large percentage of them did not deploy and had to be pried loose from their compartments.
The plane landed at DAB and the passengers were disembarked. At this point, it has not been reported by Spirit Airlines or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as to why there was smoke in the cabin. Most passengers continued on to FLL on another Spirit Airlines jet that was sent to pick the passengers up. That plane arrived at around 5:00 PM EDT. Some passengers opted to go by rental car the remaining 200+ miles. I’m unsure when the incident A319 left for FLL again (it could have been the one I saw), but it was not at DAB this morning (at 8:00 AM EDT). The accident plane is a 2006 Airbus 319-132.
I’m not so concerned about the smoke in the cabin, which happens every once in a while and almost never causes casualties, as I am about the oxygen masks not coming down. It is one thing that some don’t deploy, but when a large portion of them don’t deploy it raises some safety issues. Had this happened on an over-water Spirit flight to San Juan or Cancun, problems with masks may have been more serious. Fortunately, passengers were still able to pry them loose.
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