Odor Forces Plane’S Emergency Landing Flight From Minneapolis To Seattle Must Spend Night In Spokane

A Northwest Airlines flight made an emergency stop in Spokane on Wednesday after crew members smelled an odor.

Flight 45 from Minneapolis to Seattle landed at the Spokane Airport at about 6:32 p.m.

There were 193 people, including crew, aboard the Boeing 757, Spokane Airport spokesman Todd Woodard said.

The plane remained grounded Wednesday night, as did all the passengers, who were informed late Wednesday they would be staying overnight.

The airline was scrambling to find accommodations for the passengers, which was proving difficult because of people already in town for Hoopfest, Woodard said.

Firefighters hadn’t found the cause of the problem, Woodard said.

“They haven’t determined the origin of the odor,” which was reported at the front and the back of the plane, he said.

Woodard emphasized that there was a smell, but it wasn’t smoke. Some passengers, however, said flight attendants did mention smoke.

Passenger June Coover said passengers remained pretty calm, even though they were told emergency vehicles would be following their landing. Coover said the landing was fine, if a bit abrupt.

Apparently passengers did remain calm because Minneapolis resident Jeffery Thomas slept through the incident. When he woke, the lights in the plane were out, the only indication something was wrong. He missed the announcement about the emergency landing.

“I thought I was in Seattle,” he said. “I went to the baggage claim to try and get my bags.”

Thomas then went back to gate A-14 to wait with the other passengers to see how and when they would get to Seattle.

At the gate, many people were on cell phones, telling family and friends why they wouldn’t be landing in Seattle at 7 p.m. Others watched through the window as firefighters investigated the plane.

Thomas wasn’t the only one who was disoriented.

“I don’t even know where I am,” said Julie McIntyre of Washington, D.C.

“Eastern Washington. Spokane,” a helpful fellow passenger said. “Idaho is about 5 minutes away.”

McIntyre needed to get to Seattle to meet a connecting flight so she could reach her destination: Bozeman, Mont. That’s right. Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Seattle, Bozeman. People told her it would be faster to drive.

McIntyre was also sitting in the back of the plane. “They told us something smelled funny. I thought it was dinner.”