JetBlue plane has to make emergency landing in Kansas after smoke alarm

A JetBlue flight was forced to make a quick emergency landing in Kansas on Saturday night — leaving some passengers in tears — after pilots were alerted to possible smoke in the cargo hold, officials said.

The domestic flight departed from JFK Airport in New York City and was headed to San Diego, but was diverted to Salina, Kansas, at around 6:30 p.m. due to what was ultimately a false alarm, JetBlue said in a statement on Sunday.

“JetBlue Flight 1189 diverted to Salina, Kansas, when pilots received a warning that there might be smoke in the cargo hold. The descent was safe and the landing was without incident,” a JetBlue spokesperson said in an email.

“During the inspection, we found that the smoke indicator shown to our pilots was a false indication.”

According to data from Flight Radar 24 reported by KAKE, the plane descended more than 30,000 feet in less than ten minutes upon landing at the airport.

But when the Airbus A320 was still in the air, the tension – and fear – was palpable among the approximately 130 passengers.

According to NBC News, passenger Seth Odell said the pilot announced over the intercom that he saw a smoke warning in the cargo hold.

“Some passengers also reported hearing a loud bang, so we descended incredibly quickly and landed at the extremely small airport in Salina,” he recalled, noting that there were only 10 minutes between the pilot's report and landing.

“Of course everyone started freaking out,” Odell is said to have said.

“Some people were crying. It was quite tense for a few minutes. The crew did a great job and got everyone organized extremely quickly, and when we were on the ground everyone was just thrilled.”

Salina Fire Department Battalion Chief Derrick Herzog said there were no major problems with the aircraft, but the problem may have been electrical, the source said.