• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

NWA Plane Lands in Billings for Safety

Posted on: Monday, 26 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Howard, Tom

A Northwest Airlines flight traveling from Minneapolis to Bozeman on Wednesday was diverted to Billings because of mechanical problems.

The Airbus A320 with 136 passengers aboard landed at Billings Logan International Airport shortly after noon. Passengers used portable stairs to exit the plane while it was parked outside the terminal. No one was injured.

"We heard this flapping noise. The captain came on the intercom and said we were having hydraulic problems," said passenger Kathee McCafferty, of Traverse City, Mich.

The captain said the Billings airport would be safer for a landing because it has a longer runway than the Bozeman airport, McCafferty said. She said passengers began hearing unusual noises about a half-hour before the plane touched down in Billings.

"We all clapped when we got on the ground," said McCafferty, who was accompanied by daughters Alexis and Jillian and her husband, John. The family's trip to Yellowstone National Park was temporarily interrupted in Billings because no rental cars were immediately available, she said.

Sissy and Sandy Buck, of Portland, Maine, on their way to their son's college orientation at Montana State University waited to pick up one of the last remaining rental cars at the Billings airport Wednesday afternoon.

"After we landed, they had to tow us in," Sissy Buck said. "The captain did a good job."

Sandy Buck said he wasn't worried about flying Northwest, even though mechanics and maintenance workers have been on strike since Saturday. "We'll be using this flight a lot over the next four years," he said.

Nonunion replacement workers have been providing aircraft maintenance since 4,430 mechanics, cleaners and other members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association went on strike over $176 million in pay and benefit cuts that the airline had demanded.

Kurt Ebenhoch, a Northwest Airlines spokesman from Minneapolis, described the mechanical problem as a "hydraulic issue" but declined to be more specific.

"When things like this happen, our flight crews divert the plane to the airport that they feel is the best, and in this situation that was Billings," Ebenhoch said.

He said passengers who weren't able to arrange their own transportation were taken to Bozeman in a bus.

"We regret any inconvenience to our customers, but safety is our number one concern," Ebenhoch said.

He said that the mechanical problem on Flight 1271 is something that the airline deals with periodically and that there's no way to link it to the strike.

"The technicians we have are highly trained professionals who have an average of 14 years' experience working on aircraft," Ebenhoch said. "Any airline the size of Northwest, with as many flights as we do, is going to have things like this from time to time."

He said the plane remained in Billings on Wednesday evening and will be returned to Northwest's fleet as soon as possible.

Copyright Billings Gazette Aug 25, 2005

Source: Billings Gazette, The

More News in this Category