‘I Thought Our Plane Was on Fire': Passenger

Smoke pouring from a plane landing at Lindbergh Field had rescue crews scrambling to the airport Sunday, after reports of an engine fire turned out to be unfounded.  But the ordeal made for some scary moments, and a lot of confusion among the passengers.

“I thought our plane was on fire,” passenger Rebecca Hassuna said.  “For a few seconds we were a little nervous, just when all the police were coming and the fire engines and the people on the tarmac were staring at us, it was a little nerve racking." 

Continental flight 1626 landed in San Diego at 11:39 a.m. from Newark airport, according to the airport’s website. Officials said smoking brakes caused the alarm, but that was news to some of the passengers. 

“I thought they said it was a hot wing,” Hassuna said.  “A hot brake,” another passenger told her. “Oh, hot brake, thank you.  See, I thought it was the wing so we didn’t know what it was.” 

Hassuna wasn’t the only one confused. 

“I had no clue,” another passenger said laughing. “It was very confusing what the pilot said.  He said something about there being a hot spot or something.  I couldn’t even tell if it was our plane or another plane.” 

The passenger said it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t seem concerned for his safety, but he was left scratching his head. 

“Do you know what it was?” he asked a photojournalist. “They said it was the tires,” he replied.  “Oh tires! Was something the matter with the tires?” the passenger said.  “They said something about a hot spot and they had to get the fire department out.”

Victor Pagan was also on the plane.  He also said he wasn’t concerned – but confused? You bet. 

“To be honest, I have no idea.  They told us it was a ‘hot brake,’ that was what they said. Your guess is as good as mine.  I have no idea, apparently there might have been a little fire on the brake, I’m not really sure,” he said. 

However confused, Hassuna (the passenger who thought the chaos was over a “hot wing”) said she only had one concern. 

“I was nervous for my luggage,” she said laughing.  “Because I thought we were close enough to the ground that we could get out pretty easily, but I thought we might have lost the bags.” 

Laurie Reilly was a cool cat about the whole situation and didn’t seem phased by the smoke, rushing firefighters or… hot wings. 

“They just said that there was problems with the left side of the plane, on one of the wings, there was some smoke that came out and that they were investigating before we got off the tarmac,” she said.  “I really didn’t see anything, I was sitting on the left of the plane so it didn’t really impact me.” 

Well, it turns out it wasn’t a “hot wing”, or a “hot spot”; it was in fact a “hot brake”.  What is a hot brake, you may ask? Operations officials at Lindbergh Field say hot brakes are not uncommon.  It happens to brakes when they have first been serviced or there is fluid on them, and can often cause smoke.

Officials said the airline would normally announce that there would be a “hot brake” so the passengers are not concerned if they see smoke. Did it work in this case? Just ask the passengers. 

Continental Airlines could not be reached for comment.

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