RUNWAY TERROR

There were terror-filled screams on board American Airlines flight 850 from Miami to Kingston late on Thursday when overhead cabins flew open and the aircraft “skidded off the runway” as the pilot navigated poor weather to land at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA).

No injuries were reported among the 167 passengers or six crew members on board the full flight, but the lacerations from emotional trauma suffered through the estimated 45-minute-long ordeal are expected to string out.

“It’s like a gunman stick you up but he didn’t shoot you. There’s trauma,” Kevin Pershad, one of the passengers, told The Gleaner on Friday.

A flight, which customarily takes just over an hour between the two cities, lasted more than two hours, departing Miami at 7:32 p.m. after a 30-minute delay and arriving in Kingston at 9:35 p.m.

Pershad said the weather was poor from Miami, setting the stage for what was a tempestuous journey that forced intermittent screams from mostly senior passengers.

Their pilot, a woman, informed them that the flight would be longer than usual due to unfriendly weather.

“The seatbelt signs stayed on and they kept telling us to remain seated. We could tell something was happening because we kept circling and you could see the lights below but we just weren’t landing,” Pershad said.

He said after what felt like a long time, the landing gear came out but it was anything but a traditional arrival.

“When I tell you the plane literally drop, the plane drop on the runway and the overhead [cabins] fly open and we literally felt like the plane skid like we were skating,” Pershad recalled.

To his left, a male passenger seated by a window shouted, ‘We’re off the runway! We’re off the runway!’

Pershad and the woman seated beside him, who he estimated to be about 80 years old, prayed.

“You could hear the concerns. There was panic. People screaming, people holding their breaths, anxious, scared. The jerk, the shifting, turbulent weather, one of the exit signs fly off. We could have ended up in the water if she (pilot) didn’t correct things,” he said.

He said emergency response teams were at the airport on standby after the pilot attempted to land twice without success before managing to do so.

Business executive Richard Pandohie said passengers were advised by the captain before leaving Miami that the flight would be longer due to the weather.

He said they were also told that they would be flying around Cuba.

He said on arrival into Jamaican airspace there was a bit of turbulence which caused the pilot to circle for approximately 45 minutes before there was an opportunity to land.

“The pilot, a woman, was very communicative throughout the process. The landing was very rough, the plane bounced a few times at high ground speed and we felt the plane swerve when we came off the runway,” the Seprod Group CEO told The Gleaner.

He said there were “lots of screaming” but the pilot stabilised the situation and got the aircraft safely to the gate.

“I was scared and calm at the same time, and felt profound gratefulness that no one was hurt. The flight crew was exceptional, professional and calm,” he said.

In a statement to The Gleaner on Friday, American Airlines said the aircraft “briefly exited” the runway after landing.

“The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power and customers deplaned normally. Safety is our top priority and we apologise to our customers for their experience,” the airline said.

It’s the first major incident for the airline at NMIA in since 2009 when American Airlines Flight 331 overshot the runway. It paid out millions of dollars in damages to passengers who were injured on the flight.

An investigation subsequently concluded that landing conditions at NMIA were found to be breached with Jamaican personnel ignoring basic safeguards.

The latest incident comes a week after an emergency landing by Fort Lauderdale-bound Spirit Airlines Flight NK270 left passengers in a tailspin in Montego Bay.

The country’s aviation regulator, the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), said overseas investigators were in the island on Friday to help probe Thursday’s incident.

The JCAA said it dispatched a team of inspectors to the NMIA, and an initial investigation is underway.

It said the team is also collaborating with the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, which has been notified of the incident.

Further, JCAA said it was working with the airline and NMIA to ensure the submission of all mandatory reports.

The JCAA said the incident resulted in damage to the aircraft and some airport infrastructure, including the plane’s engine and some runway edge lights.

PAC Kingston Airport Limited, the operator of the NMIA, said service continued as usual and that there were been no diversion of flights following the incident.

Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz said he received a preliminary report from JCAA on the incident.

“I am happy to know that there is no injury reported up to this point and for that we give thanks,” Vaz said.

“The runway excursion is considered a serious incident based on the fact that the airplane departed off of the runway at some stage of the landing which caused significant damage to the aircraft and minor damage to the airstrip lighting,” said Vaz.

He said he is awaiting a more detailed report on the incident.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com