MUNCY -- A plane from Toronto had to make an emergency landing at an airport in central Pennsylvania this weekend after the plane's cabin started filling with smoke.
Newswatch 16 stopped by the Williamsport Regional Airport Monday to find out how crews there handled the emergency landing.
Flight 723 was supposed to fly directly from Toronto, Canada to Washington D.C., but the plane made an emergency landing at Williamsport Regional Airport Sunday morning when the crew detected smoke. Trained staff and emergency crews were waiting to help the passengers when they landed.
Emergency crews surround a Porter Airlines plane in a picture taken by Jonathan Baker at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Muncy. The turboprop plane is still parked at the airport, landing there when smoke started to fill the cabin.
“It very much sounded like they needed to come down as soon as possible,” said Jonathan Baker.
With 66 passengers and 4 crew members on board, the plane had to make an emergency landing at Williamsport Regional Airport.
“They didn`t have to drop the oxygen masks and that stuff, they just cleared the smoke out and continued in,” said Baker.
Although this airport is used to seeing smaller planes land, Baker says they were prepared for this.
"We've had some smaller ones, but nothing this large with an emergency," said Baker.
It was an emergency landing, so none of the crew or passengers had gone through customs to get into the country. While they waited for another plane to come and pick them up, all of them had to stay on the airport's property.
“It`s more of a security issue than a safety issue because they haven`t been cleared to get into the country,” said Baker.
"It was relatively calm. They were making the best out of it," said Tim Wagner.
Tim Wagner works at Air Energy Aviation at the airport. He helped keep the passengers comfortable until they were able to board another plane flown in from Toronto Sunday afternoon.
“The passengers were slightly restless at times, but not too badly,” said Wagner.
"Some of the looks were worried, but not really scared. It was handled well,” said Baker.
We were able to get in contact with porter airlines from Toronto, Canada. The airline is working with the aircraft manufacturer and other agencies to fully inspect the aircraft to find out what caused the smoke.
