JetBlue Flight Diverted After Emergency Slide Inflates In Cabin
A spokesman for JetBlue Airways has announced that one of its planes was forced to divert course Wednesday afternoon after its emergency slide partially deployed in the cabin while the plane was mid-air.
The plane, flight 1266, was reportedly en route from Fort Meyers, Florida to Boston when it was forced to divert course and make an unexpected landing at Orlando International Airport at 3:41 p.m. EST. No one was hurt on board, and the airline said it is still unsure what caused the emergency evacuation slide to partially deploy in the cabin.
JetBlue told the Orlando Sentinel that the slide "partially deployed into the front galley" of the plane. The aircraft, an Embraer E-190, was reportedly carrying 74 passengers and four flight attendants. "The aircraft was taken out of service for further inspection," JetBlue spokesman Loren Durán told the Orlando Sentinel.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The evacuated passengers were reportedly put on another flight to Boston's Logan Airport set to depart at 5 p.m. EST, and the plane's safe landing at Orlando International Airport reportedly did not disrupt the airport's functions.
The National Transportation Safety Board took to Twitter Wednesday afternoon to indicate it would be investigating the incident on board the Wednesday JetBlue flight. "NTSB gathering info on today's in-cabin deployment of evacuation slide during JetBlue flight Ft. Meyers to Boston, which diverted to Orlando."
Passengers were reportedly forced to exit the aircraft from the rear once it landed. JetBlue spokesman Anders Lindstrom clarified to the Associated Press that at no point did any cabin doors open, nor was there any portion of the slide or any other matter hanging out of the side of the plane.
Phil Murdoch, a passenger on the plane, told local WCVB- TV that the slide inflated and filled up the entire front portion of the cabin, even pinning the flight attendant against the wall. Murdoch, of Burlington, Vermont, was sitting nine rows back.
"We were just cruising along and there was kind of a loud bang and of course it gets your attention," Murdoch told the local media outlet. "It filled up the whole front part of the cabin where the flight attendant sits and actually pinned him."
Murdoch went on to say that the slide "basically filled up that whole cavity" behind the crew cockpit and into the bulkhead seats. "You could see [the flight attendant] poking his head out from behind the slide after he got his wits about him," Murdoch added.
The airline has confirmed the flight attendant sustained minor injuries.
