Surinam Airways … Oops, Wanna Get Away … Smoke in Cabin from Flight from Miami to Aruba

Doesn’t this story instill confidence in visiting “One Happy Island”? Airplane cabin fills with smoke as 90 passengers, including two babies had to evacuate the airplane, after having landed at Reina Beatrix airport  in Aruba.

The airplane, a MD-80 charter of Falcon Airways Express with a capacity for 172 passengers, flew from Miami to Aruba, and landed at the Reina Beatrix airport at 17.45 hours. During, or after the landing, the pilot switched on the APU too early, probably causing a short circuit, and smoke entered the cabin through the air conditioning system. The APU-system, which supplies electricity at the moment that an airplane is not flying, may only be switched on, after a complete standstill of the airplane, says a spokesperson of the airport authority AAA.

After the cabin was filled with smoke, the airplane crew decided to evacuate the passengers. Some passengers panicked and decided to open the emergency exist doors by themselves. The passengers left the airplane by way of inflatable chutes at the emergency exists, and then ran towards the airport terrain. They were taken care of shortly afterwards.