The Caribbean Airlines (CAL) pilot and crew onboard the plane that made an emergency landing in Trinidad on the night of January 27, en route from Tobago, have received high praise for keeping passengers calm and collected despite the harrowing announcement that there was a problem with one of the engines.
A passenger, who spoke with Newsday, said she considered the landing as one of the smoothest she had ever experienced, while two business chambers in Tobago also commended the CAL workers.
The emergency landing was declared for flight BW 1541, and a statement from CAL on the night of January 27 confirmed that ATR 72-600 aircraft landed safely at Piarco International Airport.
The statement added that all the required operational procedures regarding passengers and crew were being followed. It also said the aircraft would be taken out of rotation for inspection.
On January 28, one of the passengers, Tynielle Jack, described the landing as one of the smoothest she had ever experienced. "I give credit to the pilot for how he was able to navigate, as well as the crew," she said. She believes the crew's calm demeanor also helped keep the passengers from panicking.
She added, "For the most part, they handled it well."
She recalled that the flight had left Tobago around 9.30 pm, and the pilot announced an estimated flight time of 22 minutes. "It started as a normal flight," she said. "Other passengers mentioned hearing a noise, but I did not."
Jack frequently travels between the two islands as she is from Tobago but now lives in east Trinidad.
She recalled noticing that the plane was flying lower than usual. At the time, she was trying to figure out why but decided to "trust the process." The pilot then instructed passengers to prepare for an emergency landing and to "brace."
Jack told Newsday that she turned to the passenger seated beside her and asked, "Did you hear that?"
She also checked in with a friend seated further back. She recalled that despite the announcement, passengers did not cry out in panic. She began looking around, trying to gauge the reaction of others.
"There was none. Some were sleeping and others were doing whatever. It was until, about a minute later, the crew started going back and forth, telling passengers to brace. They did that for a while," Jack explained.
"That is when I realised that something had to be wrong. But there was nothing to show that something was wrong. There was no turbulence. The sky was clear."
She remembered the wheel incident from January 22, when one of CAL's planes lost two nose wheels after landing at ANR Robinson International Airport. At that moment, she began thinking about her family and the possibility of a crash, injuries and even death.
When Jack looked out the window, she said she saw emergency service vehicles approaching the plane on the tarmac in Piarco.
Only after the plane landed were passengers informed of the engine problem. Jack said she disembarked around 10.50 pm.
RELIEF IN TOBAGO
Curtis Williams, president of
