A passenger plane made an emergency landing at the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, turning around just 10 minutes after taking off on Monday due to issues with the plane’s engine.
According to airport Director Nic Longo, the Delta flight, which had been carrying about 140 people on board, took off from the Burlington airport just after 3:00 p.m., traveling toward Minneapolis, Minnesota. Just after the aircraft crossed into New York, crew members reportedly noticed a problem with the engine and decided to return to Burlington.
Longo said the specific issue with the plane’s engine was unclear.
“We did talk to the captain and he mentioned that there were indicators on his flight systems and instrument panels that relayed that there were mechanical issues with one of the engines,” Longo said, “That was all we were able to understand, which was just a mechanical issue with the engine.”
According to airport officials, the Delta flight’s captain decided to circle the plane around Lake Champlain multiple times after noticing the issue in order to expend fuel and decrease the plane’s weight. This, officials said, was done in order to create a softer landing for the plane’s mechanical parts and passengers.
“There’s no doubt in my mind when (the captain) decided to make the multiple turns around the lake to reduce the weight of the aircraft, that was a safe scenario immediately,” Longo said, “Otherwise, he would have come back in and landed on the first go.”
According to airport officials, the emergency landing was classified as a phase five emergency due to the large number of people onboard. When the plane landed, Longo said, crews surrounded the airport as part of a practiced emergency response.
“All of our mutual aid partners — the Vermont Air National Guard, Burlington, South Burlington, Essex — came to the airport, because there were that many people on board,” he said. “They were there to help that many people out if they needed it, or if needed, to transport people to UVM Medical Center.”
Airport officials say the landing was conducted safely, with no reports of any injuries. While the plane is being inspected, officials said, passengers are being rebooked to other flights.
“We do get periodic emergencies. It’s extremely rare that an airline experiences this, but every now and again, it happens,” Longo said, “It’s not comfortable at all, I’m sure for any passenger onboard, but it’s also an extremely safe atmosphere. … I really call this a textbook scenario, where not just the pilot, but also the airport operations and our emergency response teams responded.”
Longo said that airport crew members collaborate with airport mutual aid partners and University of Vermont Medical Center workers to simulate phase five emergency landings every three years, as part of training for emergencies like this one.
“The premise (of the training) is to make sure that every single entity—every person, everybody— knows where they need to go and when so that we can respond accordingly, just like we did yesterday,” Longo said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how soon after takeoff the flight landed.
