American Airlines flight from Charlotte diverted due to odor in cabin

Summary

An unknown odor occurred in the cabin of American Airlines Flight 2392, which led to an emergency landing in Raleigh shortly after takeoff.
The crew put on oxygen masks, but they did not open in the cabin. The passengers were extremely frightened, but medical help was not required.
The passengers had to wait for a replacement plane to continue their journey to Hartford and arrived more than three hours late.

American Airlines Flight 2392 from Charlotte, NC, to Hartford, CT, had to be diverted to Raleigh shortly after takeoff Thursday because of an unknown odor in the cabin. The plane landed safely and without incident and none of the passengers required medical attention. However, the plane was unable to taxi to the gate.

Unknown cabin smell

American Airlines Flight 2392 flies nonstop from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT) to Bradley International Airport (BDL). The airline uses a twin-engine narrow-body Boeing 737-800 aircraft for this route.

Boeing 737-800 aircraft of American Airlines at Palm Beach Airport (PBI) in the USA.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

According to The Aviation Herald, the plane climbed to 32,000 feet from CLT when the crew reported smoke on board. The crew then put on their smoke masks and descended to 4,000 feet, but needed more time to go through some checklists, which took five to 10 minutes. The crew also requested emergency services on standby, but did not expect to be able to evacuate the plane after landing.

Although the flight crew put on their oxygen masks, the masks did not go off in the cabin and no passenger needed to be examined by medical staff. However, many passengers were extremely frightened.

The aircraft was diverted to Raleigh-Durham Airport (RDU) and an emergency was declared. Approximately 35 minutes after the problem was reported, the aircraft landed on RDU’s runway 23R. In addition, the aircraft had to be towed to the gate.

American Airlines released a statement on the incident:

“American Airlines flight 2392 from Charlotte to Windsor Locks, Connecticut, was diverted to Raleigh-Durham due to reports of a possible odor in the cabin. The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Customers will be re-routing to BDL on a replacement aircraft shortly. We thank our crew members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

According to ch-aviation, the aircraft is registered as N989AN and is 15.25 years old and leased from SMBC Aviation Capital. At the beginning of the year, the aircraft had accumulated 43,716 flight hours and 18,197 flight cycles.

The cause of the smoke is unknown, but passengers reported a loud bang followed by a strong smell of smoke.

The consequences

The passengers had to wait until a replacement aircraft could be found. Another 737-800 with the registration N942NN took them to BDL and arrived there three hours and forty minutes late.

N350RV American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 (1)

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy flying

According to ABC11, many passengers on board the plane feared for their lives. One passenger said he didn’t see any smoke, but the smell that filled the cabin was horrific.

Shanalle Lewis even texted her husband and children to tell them she loved them, as she didn’t know what was going to happen. She said:

“You never know, and they didn’t announce it right away. I just knew something was wrong. It was an abrupt landing. They told us the fire department would be out there and stuff. A few minutes later they said everything was OK. That’s when I breathed a sigh of relief.”

Many passengers say the pilot and crew took too long to inform them of the incident. However, for the crew, safety and flying the plane is the top priority.

It is still unclear what caused the noise and smoke. The aircraft remains grounded while maintenance personnel conduct their inspections. Simple Flying has contacted American Airlines for information on the nature of the fault.