Installation blamed for seats

DALLAS – American Airlines says improperly installed clamps caused seats to come loose on some planes, and it’s expanding an inspection to cover dozens of jets.

In the past week, rows of seats have come loose on three separate flights, two of which made emergency landings.

American said Tuesday the problem was caused by improper installation of a clamp used to attach each row of three seats to tracks on the aircraft floor.

The airline had planned to inspect eight of its Boeing 757 jets, but said instead it already inspected 36 and plans to check 11 more. All have the same model of seats in the main cabin.

The airline acknowledged Tuesday that seats came loose on a flight last week from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Vail, Colo. The same thing happened aboard the same plane Monday and a second plane Saturday, according to the airline.

Separately an American flight on Tuesday from Chicago to London was diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland after a report of smoke in the cabin. An airline spokesman said it turned out to be a faulty cooling fan in an entertainment system, and the plane was expected to continue on to London Tuesday night.