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Northwest Airlines Diverts Grand Forks, N.D., Flight to Fargo After Blowout

Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Elisa L. Rineheart, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Apr. 13--Kelly Greenlees is thankful she won't have to fly again for a few months.

Greenlees, of Grand Forks, was on her way Wednesday to a business meeting in Minneapolis aboard a Northwest Airlines flight when one of the airplane tires blew up after lifting off from Grand Forks International Airport.

"We were taking off and we heard a loud bang and shaking of the wheel," Greenlees said. "We knew right away it was not normal, but we were three-quarters of the way down the runway and the pilot couldn't stop, so we took off."

Greenlees said the banging noise wasn't as intimidating as the vibration of the plane in the air.

The airplane was forced to make an emergency landing at Hector Field International Airport in Fargo. No one aboard was injured, said Jennifer Bagdade, Northwest spokeswoman.

Flight 1946 took off from Grand Forks at 8:01 a.m. The DC-9 was headed for Minneapolis with 95 passengers and five crew members, Bagdade said.

Five minutes into the flight, the plane's captain informed passengers of the blown tire, and said the plane would head to Fargo because that airport has a longer runway, which increases the chance of a safe landing, Greenlees said. It also allowed the plane to burn up some of its fuel.

"People were very alert and listening to the pilot's instructions," she said. "There were a few tears."

Flight attendants distributed passengers around the airplane and cleared emergency exists in preparation for landing, Greenlees said.

"They told us to remove anything from under the seat and to be very alert to what the pilot would say because in a split second the situation could change from a regular landing to an evacuation," she said.

The plane landed safely in Fargo at 8:54 a.m., Bagdade said.

"It was a very smooth landing," Greenlees said. "I give so much credit to the pilot because he didn't use a lot of brakes. That would've caused some friction and fire."

The accident will not affect flights out of Grand Forks today, Bagdade said.

The airline bused about half of the customers from Fargo to the Minneapolis airport. The other half chose to continue flying from Fargo to the Twin Cities. Northwest provided customers with a service recovery packet including meal vouchers and a $100 voucher for use on future flights, Bagdade said.

Gregg Rice and Barb Sluka of Roseau, Minn., were heading to Las Vegas to get married. "It's not looking real good right now," Rice said.

He said they have tickets on a later flight from Fargo to Las Vegas.

Greenlees, a widow and mother of three, said she was too shaken to continue her trip. Plus she couldn't wait get home to her family.

A friend picked her up and drove her to Grand Forks, she said.

"I'm glad I don't have to fly for a while," Greenlees said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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To see more of the Grand Forks Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.grandforks.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NWACQ,

Source: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

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