27160: Hermantin(letter to Editor) Faulty fire warning causes Haiti-bound flight to return

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Leonie Hermantin

Posted on Mon, Jan. 09, 2006


Faulty fire warning causes Haiti-bound flight to return to MIA

BY THERESA BRADLEY
tbradley@MiamiHerald.com

A faulty fire warning light caused an American Airlines flight bound for 
Port-au-Prince to return to Miami International Airport about 30 minutes after 
takeoff, airline and fire officials said.

The 114 passengers and nine crew members aboard waited more than three hours 
for a replacement plane to continue on to Haiti around 2:30 p.m., airline 
officials said.

American Airlines flight 1291 departed Miami at 10:27 a.m., nearly an 
hour-and-a-half after its regularly scheduled departure.

A warning light flashed in the cockpit of the Airbus A300, indicating that one 
of the rear cargo compartments was filling with smoke and possibly with fire, 
an airline spokesman said.

The two pilots turned the plane around and declared an emergency. But the plane 
made a normal landing and taxied to a gate at 11:15 a.m. There were no flames 
or smoke on the aircraft.

''The majority of times of that you get a warning light, more often than not, 
it's a warning light malfunction,'' said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American 
Airlines.

''Obviously, we regret the inconvenience, although I think most people would 
prefer us to be a little conservative,'' he said.

Ground teams at the airport called for backup from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, 
which sent 45 units to the runway -- including four foam trucks to combat fuel 
fires, fire officials said.

The aircraft, which had arrived in Miami earlier today from New York's John F. 
Kennedy International Airport, was taken out of service for repairs, Smith 
said.




Why hasn't Bush called Jean-Juste a political prisoner and spoken to Interim 
Prime Minister Latortue about him? Jean-Juste desperately needs medical care 
unavailable in Haiti. His death would be a tragedy not soon forgotten everyone 
who values freedom.

STEVEN DAVID FORESTER, senior policy advocate, Haitian Women
of Miami, Miami