IF THIS IS LOS ANGELES, WHY IS IT SNOWING?
A Los Angeles-bound flight — the city was a balmy 21 degrees — suddenly found itself diverted Wednesday to Iqaluit — a frigid, and somewhat ironic, minus 21.
The flight from Zurich should have flown over Greenland, Hudson’s Bay, Ontario and Manitoba on its way to L. A. Instead, it was forced to make a landing in Iqaluit due to what the airline called a “technical irregularity.”
“The real issue was they only had one engine, but despite that it was a smooth landing,” said Iqaluit airport director John Hawkins.
“Would you believe me if I told you the plane I was in lost an engine and now I’m stuck in the middle of the North Pole?,” L.A.-based singer Leroy Sanchez tweeted.
But all was not lost for Sanchez and the other jetsetting passengers on the Swiss International Air Lines flight stranded in the high Arctic — they got a tour of Iqaluit in a heated bus.
Mayor Madeleine Redfern wasn’t sure what would be included on the tour, but Hawkins said the museum and the swimming pool are two places he’d suggest.
“Iqaluit is a spectacular place, they only have a few hours so there’s no way they’ll see it all,” he said.
The Boeing 777 landed smoothly but had difficulty turning around. There were no injuries.
The passengers were fed. Food is pricey in the far north, a jug of orange juice can cost more than $ 26 in Iqaluit, so they would have been advised to wait for L.A before enjoying that specialty.
A replacement airplane was sent from New York “so they will not be staying overnight,” Redfern said Wednesday. Although the exact number of passengers was not released, the max 295 people would increase Iqaluit’s population of 6,699 by more than four per cent.
It’s a good thing there was no plan to have them stay overnight because “there aren’t nearly enough hotel rooms. There’s a recreational hall we could put people in if we had to,” Hawkins said.
IQALUIT IS A SPECTACULAR PLACE ... THERE’S NO WAY THEY’LL SEE IT ALL.