An engine failure and a proliferation of cellphones resulted in the dramatic and well-covered return of a JetBlue flight to Long Beach Thursday morning. Flight 1416 was reportedly 25 minutes into the flight to Austin when alarms went off in the cockpit and smoke filled the cabin. The oxygen masks were deployed and there was no shortage of cellphone video. The one we chose (scroll down) includes the announcement from the cockpit, and the pilot on the intercom was to the point. “Ladies and gentlemen we’ve had a right engine failure and we’ve shut down the engine. We’re headed back to Long Beach at this time. Please stay in your seats and we’ll try to clear the cabin of smoke if we can,” the pilot says as alarms chime and at least one passenger can be heard calling someone named Ashley on his cellphone.
The aircraft made safe landing at Long Beach, but the crew deployed the slides on the runway and the aircraft was evacuated. One person was taken to hospital with shortness of breath and three others were evaluated by paramedics at the scene and released. Among the passengers was actor Jackson Rathbone, from the Twilight films, and he uploaded several photos from the runway. Passengers reported a loud noise followed immediately by the cabin filling with smoke. The oxygen masks then dropped and flight attendants ordered passengers into the brace position for landing.
