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5-Hour Flight To LAX Turned Into A 16-Hour Ordeal
Photo by tomms via the LAist Featured Photos pool
Passengers headed from Miami to Los Angeles for the holidays had an unexpected delay: their roughly five-hour flight turned into a 16-hour ordeal.American Airlines Flight 295 left Miami at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning, bound for LAX, KTLA reports. The flight was anticipated to take around five hours. However, something went wrong mid-flight. Passengers said they were told that one of the engines had malfunctioned, and one passenger reported seeing smoke in the cockpit of the plane. The airline referred to the problem as a "mechanical issue," and the FAA said the plane had declared "an emergency for engine oil warning light," ABC reports.
The plane made an emergency landing in Lubbock, Texas, where the 186 passengers sat on the runway for several hours. Customers were given the option of leaving the plane and catching another flight in the morning. Eventually, a different plane arrived to take the passengers and crew to L.A., but that plane had to land in Dallas to refuel.
Finally, the backup plane arrived in L.A. at about 2:15 a.m. this morning.
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