A Delta flight was forced to make an emergency landing after pilots smelled smoke and fumes in the cockpit.
A Delta 757 carrying 187 passengers from Cancun to Altanta had to make a landing at Montgomery Regional Airport on Sunday afternoon after pilots determined that there was a problem when they smelled smoke, USA Today reports.
According to Phil Perry, executive director of the Montgomery Regional Airport, it is a common procedure for international flights to make emergency landings at the airport. The plane was met by emergency services but there were no injuries reported.
"The firemen determined there was no danger, but they had to come off the plane," Perry said.
According to the Delta website, Flight 534, was scheduled to leave Cancun at 12:37 p.m. local time. The passengers were placed on another flight which left Montgomery before 6:45 p.m. The plane arrived in Atlanta just before 7:15 p.m.
"They're anxious to get where they were going," Perry said of the passengers. While they waited, the airport gave the passengers coffee and sandwiches.
According to Delta Air Lines spokesman Russell Cason, the smell was caused by fluorescent bulb ballast that burned out. It is not clear if the equipment was located inside the cockpit.
The emergency landing did not affect other flights at the airport but some passengers in the terminal had extra wait time as they tried to go through security. The passengers from the plane took up about three gates in the airport.
Zac McCrary, a political consultant who had a flight scheduled to Dallas on Sunday evening, claims that he had to wait about an hour as he tried to get through security.
"I got here about 4:45 and the other passengers had been waiting since 4, and they were not letting people through security," he said according to USA Today.
The security lines were back to normal by 5:40 p.m.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
