Passenger describes tense moments on WestJet flight after engine failure | 24CA News
When Javaune Wallen boarded his Calgary-bound flight in Kamloops on Thursday afternoon, he by no means thought he’d be in for a tense flight.
The flight, WestJet Encore 3252, was pressured to divert and make an emergency touchdown at Kelowna International Airport after certainly one of its two engines failed.
The aircraft, with its 75 passengers onboard, landed safely.
“I was really scared,” Wallen instructed Global News on Friday. “We heard a couple of big bangs.
“I looked at the engine because the sound was coming from the right side, and then you could see the propeller slowly slow down, and then everything just went quiet.”
Javaune Wallen on WestJet Encore Flight 3252, which was pressured to make an emergency touchdown in Kelowna Thursday after engine failure.
Contributed
Wallen mentioned the engine failed about 10 minutes after takeoff.
“The pilot came on and he said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pretty sure you guys are aware, we have an out engine. We are trained for this. We’re in good hands and they’re going to try and get us to Kelowna for an emergency landing.’”
Wallen mentioned whereas there was no loud panic onboard, he mentioned many passengers had a terrified look, together with one passenger sitting subsequent to him.
“There was a lady that was sitting beside me. She started panicking really bad, really shaking, ” Wallen mentioned.
“So I tried my best to maintain my composure, try to hold what I’m feeling in and be strong for that lady.”
Passengers indicated seeing flames contained in the engine, however airport officers say by the point the aircraft landed, at 4:45 p.m., the hearth was out.
“By the time the aircraft landed, there was no fire at all,” mentioned Phillip Elchitz, senior supervisor of airport operations.
“Our crews did ensure that the aircraft, that engine, was safe. They got out of the fire trucks, they used heat guns to make sure that there wasn’t any heat before that aircraft actually taxied into the terminal building.”
While Elchitz mentioned emergency landings aren’t all that unusual, ones involving industrial planes touchdown with just one engine are,
“It’s rare to have an aircraft land with one engine,” Elchitz mentioned.
“There’s all kinds of protocols that the pilots deal with when they’re in the air. And those two-engine aircraft are designed to actually be able to operate with one engine. It’s rare for us to see, but we were ready.”
Global News reached out to WestJet for remark and acquired a short e-mail.
“The crew followed standard safety procedures and the aircraft landed safely at 4:45 p.m. local time,” mentioned Denise Kenny, WestJet’s supervisor of public relations.
“We sincerely apologize to our guests for this inconvenience the diversion has caused and appreciate their patience and understanding as we worked to get them on their way as soon as possible.”
The aircraft remained on the Kelowna airport Friday awaiting mechanical inspection.
Many of the passengers have been rebooked on different flights that very same night. Some, nonetheless, selected to in a single day in Kelowna, not fairly able to board one other aircraft.
“There were some passengers that were certainly shaken up,” Elchitz mentioned. “It’s not one thing that anyone needs to expertise.
“But my understanding from what I’ve heard from some of the passengers on board was that it was quickly stabilized.”
Wallen expressed gratitude to WestJet employees for getting everybody on the bottom safely.
“The pilots were amazing, the flight crew were amazing,” he mentioned. “I can’t stress that enough.”
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
