An American Airlines aircraft carrying about 200 passengers made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday morning after flight crew members smelled an odor and detected a possible haze in the passenger cabin.
No one was injured and officials were working to get the passengers on another aircraft as quickly as possible, said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American.
Wagner said Flight 31, which left from Los Angeles at 8:48 a.m. Pacific time, was headed to Honolulu with 188 passengers when the captain declared an emergency. The plane headed back to LAX, where the passengers exited the aircraft by sliding down emergency chutes after the plane landed, Wagner said..
"We're not sure why the slides were deployed for this emergency evacuation," Wagner said. "That is very uncommon. We haven’t had a chance to talk to the crew to determine why they did that."
About 150 firefighters were on hand to help passengers as they slid down at least three emergency chutes aboard the plane.
Wagner said they are trying to determine what caused the strange odor and haze.
"There is no indication of a fire," he said.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey told CNN that no fire was discovered.
Humphrey said the flight crew smelled smoke in the cabin about an hour after takeoff. The flight came in over the Pacific Ocean, an unusual flight path, but made a normal landing before the pilot declared the emergency evacuation, Humphrey said.
Humphrey said the flight attendants "did a remarkable job" in evacuating the passengers.
This reported includes material from the Associated Press
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