Emergency landings: Two Aircraft land safely at V.C. Bird International Airport, passengers unhurt

Two aircraft made emergency landings at the V.C. Bird International Airport on Thursday within a span of 12 hours. Passengers onboard the planes are safe and secure as the authorities have reported no injuries or any big blow. 

As per the details, the two planes that made emergency landings at the airport were Amerijet Cargo plane and Air Canada flight.

Amerijet Cargo plane landed safely at airport 

An Amerijet cargo plane made emergency landing on Thursday morning after discovering a problem with its flaps. The plane was en route from Miami in the United States of America to St. Maarten when its crew members declared an emergency. 

Just after the announcement of the emergency, the authorities reacted to the incident immediately, promoting a full emergency declaration at the airport. According to the authorities, there were four individuals aboard the Boeing 767 and all the them safely disembarked from the aircraft. 

The Fire Chief Vivian Parker explained the reason behind emergency landing in Antigua. He noted that the emergency operations centre was immediately established at the airport where a number of agencies were on standby. Upon reaching, the local engineers identified issues with one of the engines and therefore, the decision was made to ground the aircraft until further assessment and corrective maintenance. 

Air Canada plane landed safely

Just after a period of 12 hours, another flight, Air Canada which had taken off from the V.C Bird International airport at 9 pm had to make an emergency landing back to the airport due to a mechanical issue. The aircraft was just about 20 miles off the coast of Antigua when the pilots indicated the need to return for an emergency landing. The flight was carrying around 120 passengers and all are reported to be safe. 

The plane landed at the airport at around 10:34 pm, receiving the all-clear at 10:48PM, bringing an end to the full emergency which had been declared for the landing. The Airbus 319 requested the emergency landing shortly after departing the airport bound for Toronto.  

According to the information, a problem with its landing gear triggered the emergency as the plane lane circled for several minutes jettisoning fuel to make it light enough to land. The authorities shed light on the matter, stating that they are conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.