A Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing after smoke filled the cabin and passengers thought “this is the end.”
Delta Flight 2846 made an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after mysterious smoke filled both the passenger cabin and cockpit.
Video filmed on board shows the cabin filling with smoke from the front, and passenger and podcaster Gary Vaughn said he could only see a “few rows” ahead of him.
“I knew something catastrophic had happened,” he said on his podcast.
“Everybody was crying, everybody was screaming, everybody thought the engines were off. And you could hear we were just sliding…we were still pretty stable. There was no turbulence, there was nothing.
The pilot told the 193 passengers that they had “lost oil pressure in the right engine” and that it had “lost all power,” Vaughn said.
Throughout the process, Vaughn said the four flight attendants were up and about handing out water to the passengers.
The pilot had complete control of the plane. “I don’t think he ever lost control of the plane,” Vaughn said.
“The screaming, crying people definitely thought this was the end,” he said. – It was upsetting at best. When you watch movies and see all the frantic crying and screaming and you hear that kind of thing, that’s exactly what happened.’
A dead-headed pilot on the flight reportedly told Vaughn that the smoke was coming from the engine because it had no oil.
Delta Flight 2846 made an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after mysterious smoke filled both the passenger cabin and cockpit
Passenger video shows the eerie scene as smoke filtered towards the back of the plane, significantly heavier towards the front as an alarm went off
Fellow passenger Mason Weiner said on Twitter that the smoke was from “burnt oil” in the engine. Another passenger, who goes by Queen Rainey Reigns on Facebook, also claimed the flight crew told passengers there was no oil in the engine and the plane was “declining in altitude”.
Delta has not released an official cause of the smoke. DailyMail.com has reached out for comment.
The pilots were able to land safely at the Albuquerque International Sunport, according to FAA Public Affairs Specialist Donnell Evans.
Passengers Gary Vaughn (left) and Queen Rainey Reigns (right) were both on the flight. Describing the moment as being in a movie, Vaughn said, “When I watch disaster movies now, I’m going to be completely terrified.” Rainey agreed, saying she was “terrified” and had thought to herself, “Oh my God, am I going to make it?”
Another passenger Mason Weiner said the pilots landed the plane “smoothly” and were “fantastic”
“Crew was amazing and made everything as smooth as possible while emergency landing in #Albuquerque,” Weiner wrote.
Various videos posted online by passengers show an eerie cabin filling with light smoke, with a significantly heavier plume towards the front of the plane.
As the passengers sat quietly, a piercing emergency alarm went off steadily.
As the plane touched down on the runway, a member of the flight crew can be heard in Vaughan’s video telling passengers to “keep your seat belts on” while firefighters inspected the plane before it could taxi to the gate.
Rainey also said the plane started smoking when they were over Texas.
“Everybody, it’s been a day,” Rainey said. ‘So we [were] flying, we [were] in the air on the plane over Texas and the inside of our plane started to smoke. The fire alarm goes off, like it beeps like the house when there is too much smoke…it was going off.
“The plane is just smoking on the inside,” Rainey, who had slept on the flight, said on his Facebook story. ‘What can you do 36,000 feet in the air on a smoking plane? You just sit there and pray for the best. That is the realization of it all.
‘You just have to talk your way through it and affirm your way through it, and that’s what I had to do.
The flight path shows that the plane had taken off from Atlanta and landed in Albuquerque
The pilots (pictured) were able to land safely at the Albuquerque International Sunport. The FAA is investigating the incident
“It was an experience,” she said. ‘I was scared, I was terrified. It was the second scariest thing that happened in my life…it was a moment of: Oh my God, am I going to make it?’
The plane landed safely and journalist Mark Johnson posted a video of the pilots thanking them for getting them to Albuquerque.
The FAA is investigating the incident and 193 passengers were diverted to LAX on a later flight.
Delta Airlines told DailyMail.com in a statement: “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and crew.”
Delta’s maintenance professionals investigate the plane’s malfunction.
“Delta did a great job,” Vaughn said. “I think their flight crew were fantastic, they kept everyone calm.”
Vaughn said Delta offered them a $150 flight credit, but he doesn’t think it’s enough after the experience they went through.
“When I watch disaster movies now, I will be completely horrified,” he said. ‘It was crazy.’
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