Vapour from de-icing fluid forces landing

OTTAWA — An excessive amount of de-icing fluid that burned off during takeoff is the reason why a Cubabound flight out of Ottawa with 170 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing early Friday morning.

Sunwing Airlines confirmed there was no fire on Flight 326, which took off at 6:32 a.m. from Ottawa International Airport. But passengers heading to the warm beaches of Varadero were unaware of this when they screamed “fire” at the site of what they thought was smoke coming from the air vents of the Boeing 737-800.

What they actually saw was vapour, said Daryl McWilliams, Sunwing vice-president of media relations. An excess of fluid was on the plane, vaporized during the flight and entered the plane through a vent for the auxiliary engine. Unaware of this at the time, the passengers say the fear on board was palpable

A flight attendant ran up the aisle with a fire extinguisher. One woman was hyperventilating. Another man thought that everyone on board would die. The pilot returned the plane to the runway just before 7 a.m.

In freezing conditions, aircraft are de-iced with glycol an alcohol-based fluid that prevents the build of ice on the wings and control surfaces.

Despite the rather rough start, many passengers were happily standing in line at the Sunwing check-in station around 9 a.m. waiting for a second flight scheduled to take off at 12:30 p.m.