Plane makes unexpected landing at MacArthur

A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Orlando made an unexpected stop Sunday morning at MacArthur Airport. A Southwest spokesman said a flight attendant reported an electrical smell after takeoff from

News 12 Staff

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Jul 26, 2009, 10:42 PM

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Updated 5,631 days ago

A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Orlando made an unexpected stop Sunday morning at MacArthur Airport.

A Southwest spokesman said a flight attendant reported an electrical smell after takeoff from Connecticut. The plane landed safely at Macarthur Airport just before 8 a.m.

"A fire could really go fast in that fuselage, so we want to get the plane down as fast as possible, get the people off as fast as possible," says Rick Gimbl, chief of the Holbrook Fire Department.

Airport spokeswoman Catherine Green said the 131 passengers and 5 crewmembers were all evacuated safely. They boarded another flight and continued to Florida shortly before 10 a.m.

AP wire services were used in this report.