Yesterday, a Spirit Airlines flight turned around less than an hour into the flight.
Four white chickens
According to a passenger on the Airbus A321, they experienced problems with the doors of the landing gear. According to reports, the pilot announced mid-flight that one set of doors were open, but there was no safety concern even though the altitude and airspeed were affected. Since publication, this issue has not been confirmed by Spirit Airlines or Simple Flying.
While the A321 was supposed to depart on Sunday’s flight, it departed 5 minutes late. A little over an hour into its journey, the aircraft turned around and went back to Detroit airport. It landed there at 10:06 and resumed its journey at 14:20. To those wondering what had happened, the same aircraft coincidentally took off at 15:36 hours on Saturday night in Orlando after a 3-minute delay.
A passenger alerted the flight attendants of an emergency saying “fire” mid-flight.
Less than 40 minutes after leaving the ground, a Spirit Airlines flight from Miami returned to the ground. The passengers onboard said they heard a passenger confused the aircraft’s air conditioning system with smoke. When the crew returned, it found that there was no sign of fire, and everyone was back on the ground and headed for home as fast as possible at 07:45.
Spirit Airlines sent a statement to Simple Flying explaining the technical issue.
“Our Crew and Crew Members are safe. We completed all necessary checklists and determined there was no fire and the aircraft is to continue on to Boston.”
Recent flight incidents
Yesterday, National Football League (NFL) star Odell Beckham Junior was told he would not be allowed to board an American Airlines flight that was due to leave from Miami International Airport. The Boeing 787 had pushed back from the gate and was taxiing for takeoff and headed for Los Angeles International Airport. The crew went through its safety briefing with the passengers and told them to fasten seatbelts.
According to the flight crew, OBJ had a blanket over his head during the safety briefing and was unresponsive despite multiple attempts to wake him. Though scared for his health, the crew called the police because they feared he was ill. The aircraft returned to the gate instead of continuing on its flight. Miami-Dade Police Department officers met them there, and he seemed fine when taken from the aircraft.
When the crew asked OBJ to leave the aircraft and he refused, he caused a tense scene with four captains and six other crew members. The police decided to deplane the entire aircraft rather than ask him one-on-one. After the remaining passengers disembarked, the officers grounded him for not cooperating. In an interview, OBJ’s lawyers claimed that this incident from earlier this year was entirely unnecessary.