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A flight back to Canada was forced to take a detour Saturday shortly after taking off from London’s Gatwick Airport – but many of the passengers reached their destination Sunday.
On Saturday, WestJet Flight 27, from Gatwick Airport to the Edmonton International Airport, diverted to Reykjavik, Iceland, after the aircraft appeared to encounter issues.
CTV News spoke to some of the passengers as they returned to Edmonton Sunday.
“It was the first time I experienced something like that, and it was very very very scary,” Joanna Palczewska said.
Palczewska said the flight was going smoothly, until about an hour and a half after takeoff.
“They were serving drinks and it was kind of like, a small explosion of the engine, and they had this look between each other and you could hear something was going wrong,” Palczewska said.
“Then about an hour later you hear the pilot come on and says we need to make an emergency landing in Iceland, so we were circling to use up some fuel,” passenger Cheryse Pochynok said.
According to the passengers, it took up to two hours for the plane to land, and the plane was met by emergency crews on the ground.
A WestJet spokesperson told CTV News, in a statement, that the plane made an emergency landing “after the crew experienced a vibration on the left side engine on the aircraft. In accordance with standard operating procedures, the crew made the most conservative decision to divert to Iceland.”
A WestJet team was in Reykjavik as of Sunday, officials said, and was scheduled to inspect the aircraft to determine a cause for the incident.
A passenger also recorded video of fuel being dumped from the wing of the plane – WestJet said all aircraft have a maximum landing weight, which also includes fuel. In this case “the decision was made ti jettison fuel so the aircraft could land at this safe, certified landing weight”.
Officials said before an aircraft dumps fuel, it is done with coordination from air traffic control and at a high altitude so the fuel dissipates into the atmosphere.
While the passengers were delayed, they said they were taken care of, with hotel rooms and food paid for.
“Overall, better safe than sorry,” Pochynok said. “I’d rather have stopped in Iceland than in the middle of the ocean coming home yesterday.”