CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The National Transportation Safety Board released the preliminary report for a Delta Air Lines flight that was evacuated earlier this year.
The flight took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Feb. 24, but had to quickly turn around after smoke filled the cabin.
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In the new report released Wednesday, NTSB said the smoke was so thick that the head flight attendant couldn’t see past the first row of engers.
Flight attendants first noticed the smoke by a door toward the front of the plane and then saw it coming out of the vents, according to the report.
The flight attendants tried to reach the pilots, who were focused on emergency landing protocols, and asked for the engers to remain calm.
The report states that the pilots saw smoke rising from the floor near the back of the cockpit and put on their oxygen masks as a precaution.
After they landed, the pilots opened the flight deck door and saw a “tremendous” amount of smoke in the cabin.
The captain ordered an evacuation.
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Channel 2 Action News showed you video of the chaotic scene as engers tried every which way they could to evacuate.
Some ended up on the wing of the plane.
“I got her. Here come here. I got her,” you hear one woman say, as a enger has trouble getting out.
“Oh, we on the wing. Uh oh,” you hear a enger say.
“How we gonna get off this wing? We gotta go down. Where we get out at?” engers asked.
Two people reported minor injuries.
During the return to the airport, the pilots reported a low oil pressure alarm in the right engine and had to shut it down.
After the plane landed, maintenance workers found little to no oil in the engine.
Investigators said they haven’t determined if the oil leak was the cause of the smoke. The official cause will be included in the NTSB’s final report.
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