On the evening of September 21st, a JetBlue Airbus A321-200
en route from New York to San Diego reportedly made an emergency landing
after the crew received a cargo smoke
indication. The flight diverted safely to Salina, resulting in an eight-hour overall delay for the passengers. The incident comes a month after cabin crew on another

JetBlue flight were praised for handling an incident in which a passenger’s phone malfunctioned
and started smoking in the cabin.

JetBlue flight diverts after smoke indication

The Aviation Herald reported that JetBlue
flight B6-1189 (registered N944JT) diverted for an emergency landing around 40 nautical miles northeast of Salina in Kanas. The flight had taken off from New York’s JFK airport bound for San Diego in California and had some 130 people onboard at the time.

After the crew received an indication of cargo smoke, they decided to divert and landed at Salina around 17 minutes later. Although AIRLIVE suggested it may have been even quicker, landing just 10 minutes after the pilot’s announcement.

B6 A321

According to some passengers, the captain announced a cargo smoke indication, while other passengers indicated that they heard a band. After that, a mist came through the air conditioning vents.

Replacement aircraft picked passengers up

One passenger wrote on Reddit and posted an image of the aircraft with passengers walking out over the tarmac as they disembarked from the aircraft. They said, “Halfway through the flight, we were suddenly descending very, very quickly. Flight attendants moving fast and looking scared. Pilot came on and told us there was an alarm for smoke / fire in cargo. They got us safely to the ground in the literal middle of nowhere KS. Tiny airport. Emergency exit on the tarmac.

“JetBlue is sending out another plane from Boston to get us and take us to San Diego.” – Reddit user

The passenger stated that the airport was so small that they got local school bus drivers to come and bring the passengers to the local terminal. The passengers were provided with snacks, water, and pizza (the tiny airport only had vending machines), and a replacement aircraft was sent to pick up the stranded passengers.

According to the post, a pilot came and spoke to the passengers about 90 minutes after landing and said they didn’t know if there was a fire or smoke. However, because the suppression system was deployed, the aircraft was unable to carry passengers and needed to return to Boston to get checked out.

Incident aircraft sent for inspection

The pilots then “left with the crew” (according to AIRLIVE, the original aircraft took off 6 hours after landing). Another replacement arrived at Salina A321-200 aircraft registered N945JT to pick up the passengers. The aircraft took off around 8 hours after the incident aircraft originally landed. The flight carried the passengers the rest of the way to San Diego.

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