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Dec. 14--YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Seattle to Denver flight with about 150 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing in Yakima this morning after officials reported smoke coming from the plane.
Frontier Airlines Flight 844 left Seattle around 8:40 a.m. only to end up parked in at the Yakima Air Terminal about an hour later. Passengers said they weren't told the reason for the emergency landing, but that firefighters entered and made their way to the back of the plane after it landed.
"There was no turbulence, nothing irregular," said passenger Brandon Gannon, 38, on his way to Des Moines, Iowa, to see his son. "I didn't think it was too serious until I saw the emergency vehicles on the runway."
The majority of passengers waited at the gate beyond the security checkpoint, though some were let out to take a smoke break. Those interviewed appeared upbeat despite the inconvenience and being left in the dark as to the cause.
"Maybe someone burned a turkey, I don't know," said Ed Wood, 73, who was on his way to Kansas City to see his 97-year-old mother for the holidays.
Just after 10 a.m. airport staff announced that Frontier Airlines was sending another plane but did not say when the plane would arrive or take off. Gannon and Wood said they would likely miss their connecting flights.
"They kept us in the dark, but I guess it's good not to scare the passengers too much," Keith Johnson, 26, said. Johnson was also going to visit family for the holidays in Indiana.
---Mike Faulk
