An Air Canada flight this morning made an emergency landing and evacuation after declaring a Mayday emergency, shortly after takeoff from San Francisco.
Flight AC8839 was scheduled to fly from San Francisco International Airport (SFO/KSFO) to Vancouver International Airport (YVR/CYVR).
The aircraft departed normally after a short delay. However, almost immediately after takeoff it declared a Mayday emergency. This is the highest level of emergency.
The aircraft, registered as C-FNJZ, was manufactured in June 2005 and is currently 14 years old.
A spokesperson from Jazz Aviation, which operated the flight for Air Canada under its Air Canada Express Brand, told CTV News Vancouver that the crew aboard the flight received “a rear lavatory smoke detector indication”.
The flight returned to San Francisco and the crew requested a priority landing, as per standard operating procedures.
Jazz Aviation Spokesperson
The plane landed safely and the crew performed an emergency evacuation on a taxiway. Emergency vehicles and crews met the aircraft and inspected it, but did not find any fire.
Below is a video from social media showing the emergency evacuation:
Another aircraft and crew were sent to resume the flight. A total of 74 passengers and four crew members were aboard the original plane, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Jazz Aviation apologises to customers for the inconvenience.
Cover Image: twitter@twuskip1
While the remark of “Seriously?” is obviously flippant, it raises an important point. We don’t know from the article how serious the situation was, and we have to give the pilots (trained professionals) the benefit of the doubt — especially since similar (Air Canada) aircraft have been incinerated in the past, with multiple fatalities. However, human nature being what it is, there is always the possibility that the pilots went “over the top” with an emergency evacuation in order to make a dramatic statement to the moron (and anyone else) who chooses to light up in the toilet. (Again, we don’t know the severity, but you would think it would be possible for cabin crew to distinguish between an imminent fire threat and the wiff of cigarette smoke?) The bottom line is: an emergency evacuation poses its own risks and people could have been injured by the pilots’ decision to handle the situation this way. It will be left to internal investigation to assess whether the pilots acted appropriately with an abundance of caution (fully supported by the pilots union, of course). But only the pilots will ever know if their thought process also included a measure of “let’s teach this guy a lesson”. We see this all the time with adrenalin-pumped SWAT commandos being called onto aircraft, terrifying the hell out of all passengers, in order to resolve relatively minor altercations that could have been handled differently. The main purpose? Make a dramatic show [a real-life training exercise] in order to make the consequences absolutely clear to anyone thinking of messing with authority. Forget about the innocent passengers who have been scarred for life by the experience. And then pretend to justify the over the top actions, by insincerely playing up “genuine” concerns.
Yes, seriously. How would you like to continue the flight with the rear of the aircraft on fire? Those pansy ass pilots may have saved 74 lives.
A Mayday. For smoke in the lav. What a bunch of pansy ass pilots lol
What’s more serious? Mayday or Pan, Pan, Pan?
Mayday is more serious.