Passengers removed themselves from an American Airlines regional plane on the ground Tuesday in Augusta, Georgia, after a burning odor and light smoke were detected in the cabin.
American Flight 5406, operated by PSA Airlines, arrived in Augusta following a 36-minute flight from Charlotte, said flight tracking website FlightAware.
“The cabin was smoked in, and we climbed off the wing,” passenger Sean O’Conor recounted as he videotaped the evacuation. “Looks like everyone is safe.”
The CRJ-900 plane had “a maintenance problem after landing safely in Augusta,” the airline said in a statement to CNN. “Everyone deplaned and was escorted to the airport terminal. The safety of our customers is always our number one concern, and for that we apologize for the inconvenience.”
The scheduled return flight to Charlotte on the plane was scrapped, but that aircraft was flying again Wednesday, said FlightAware.
A separate plane taking the same flight route from Charlotte to Augusta also developed a mechanical problem on Wednesday, American Airlines said to CNN. The plane, a CRJ-700, orbited and came back to Charlotte after some 20 minutes in flight, according to FlightAware. It left again three hours later and arrived safely at Augusta.
