An Alaska Airlines plane made a U-turn shortly after takeoff after the cabin started to fill with a concerning smell.
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According to a report by FOX 12, Alaska Airlines flight 757 abruptly returned to Portland International Airport (PDX) last week. The Boeing 737-800 left PDX on Wednesday at around 9:50 AM en route to Las Vegas. However, passengers and crew reported a strange smell and fumes in the cabin, prompting an immediate return to PDX.
The outlet explains that fire crews evacuated the plane, and nine people on board requested a medical evaluation. Authorities reported no serious injuries, and emergency services found no evidence of fire or safety risks.
A passenger recorded inside the cabin when the fire crew came on board. @pdxladygeek posted the footage on TikTok.
Everyone on board appears calm, and the passengers quietly wait as emergency services walk through the plane. Per the New York Post, a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines told the outlet, "Crew members detected a strong odor this morning on board Alaska Airlines Flight 757. As a precaution, the pilots returned to PDX, where medical professionals met the aircraft at the gate and evaluated crew members and guests."
The flight provider reportedly removed the 14-year-old plane from service for inspection. Passengers were provided with alternative flights at PDX.
Where did the fumes on the Alaska Airlines plane come from?
Alaska Airlines has not provided a cause for the fumes or smell, but the Daily Mail points out a comment on the TikTok video. @pdxladygeek explains, 'It was the chemical they spray on the jet engines prior to takeout, which failed to burn off properly, so some were vented into the aft cabin area.' In response to another comment, @pdxladygeek said, 'We are safe. Alaska Airlines handled everything perfectly!'
The Alaska Airlines flight isn't the only jet that was forced to make a U-Turn recently. An Air France Flight returned to Paris on March 21, an hour after takeoff. A passenger lost their phone on board, and the crew could not track it down.
While this may seem like a strange reason to disrupt an entire airliner, phone batteries are reportedly fire hazards if heated or damaged. On that note, power banks are often subject to flight restrictions for the same reason.
This was a Boeing 717, the last one was manufactured in 2006. It was originally a McDonnell Douglas MD-95 before the merger.
I haven't seen the reports on this specific incident, yet, but engine fires are mechanical issues: either something inside the engine that doesn't belong there, or poor maintenance practices, or both. Wing tips striking the ground may be a combination of weather (wind, visibility) and/ or just incompetent piloting. This is something that just wasn't occurring, before 2 things happened, on a regular basis as it is now: late '60s "Affirmative Action" hiring (morphed into DEI); and the deregulation of airlines in the US in the early '80s. When airlines maintained their own planes with their own states of mechanics, there was a cohesive sense of company "pride" and team work, where everyone was part of moving planes and people safely from point A to point B together. Incompetent people got weeded out quickly, because they reflected poorly on the team, which no one wanted. That concept and feeling vanished, between the 2 factors I named. It's absence is "felt" from manufacturing clear through all aspects of the industry today.