Posted on 07/31/2011 10:20:50 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
HAVANA (AP) — A United Airlines jetliner carrying 135 passengers from Washington to a Mexican beach resort made an unplanned landing in Cuba on Sunday after a strange odor was detected on board.
United Airlines Flight 831 left Dulles airport in the morning and was bound for Cancun but instead diverted to Havana around noon after "the crew noticed an unfamiliar smell in the cabin," airline spokesman Charles Hobart said in a statement.
"In an abundance of caution, the pilots decided to land the aircraft at the nearest available airport," he said. "The plane landed routinely and safely in Havana and we are working to re-accommodate our customers."
Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Havana instead of an embassy since the two nations do not have full diplomatic relations, said a second plane arrived from the United States later Sunday and flew out with the passengers.
(Excerpt) Read more at centurylink.net ...
Reads like they were unaccountably forced to go to Cuba because of its strong smell.
“Take this plane to Cuba!”
Perhaps they inadvertently crossed the flight path of Air Farce One.
The plane landed safely.
It did not land "routinely."
Sheesh.
routinely?
I wouldn’t use the word that way. I doubt they make a habit of unschedule stops in totalitarian dictatorships (besides Washington)
That was my first reaction too
someone burning a Cohiba?
“Diverted” and “routine” really don’t go together, do they?
George Carlin might have something to say about a scheduled flight with unscheduled stops...
Oh, not being sensitive or anything -- only because they called it an unfamiliar odor.
Idiotic writing of this story.
United does not “routinely” land flights in Havana, with or without an odor.
Next thought is “garlic” or “arroz con pollo”, or was that
burning silicon rubber seal from the cabin a/c.
Surprised the cubans let them land, but they probably watched them like a hawk, United being a spy company and all.
>> Cuba has a tradition of hospitality...
Yeah, right - especially to its dissidents. They all get free room and board.
Not surprisingly for the AP, the article goes out of its way to paint Cuba positively, how it is know for hospitality and offered it airports for flights after 9-11, as if money had nothing to do with it.
Exactly!
The Cubans must have been in a panic. I bet they had to wake Fidel up for permission to let it land. And with a planeload of Americans on the ground, Havana was probably put in full lock-down.
>>> The Cubans must have been in a panic. I bet they had to wake Fidel up for permission to let it land. And with a planeload of Americans on the ground, Havana was probably put in full lock-down.
You certainly dramatize don’t you.
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