9 taken to hospital after passengers on US Airways flight from NC to Jamaica smell foul odor

9 taken to NC hospital after bad smell on airplane

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nine crew members and passengers aboard a Jamaica-bound US Airways flight were taken to a hospital with coughs and sore throats after smelling strong odors Tuesday, two months after 15 people aboard the same jet were treated for similar problems.

Some of the 152 passengers aboard Flight 985 began complaining of a foul electrical smell soon after it pushed away from its gate at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport bound for Montego Bay on Tuesday, US Airways spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said.

Two pilots, five flight attendants and two passengers sought medical attention, the airline said. All were expected to be discharged from Carolinas Medical Center within hours of arriving, spokesman Raymond Jones said.

The remaining passengers and a new crew left for Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon, Mohr said.

The same aircraft, a Boeing 767, was yanked out of service for five days and inspected after seven crew members and eight passengers aboard a Jan. 16 flight arriving in Charlotte from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, complained of scratchy throats and itchy eyes, Mohr said.

The crew members were examined at a hospital while the passengers were checked out inside the airport and continued traveling to their destinations the same night, she said.

Ground crews found the jet had a slight fuel leak that vaporized into the cabin air system. They repaired the problem, Mohr said.

Flight attendants also reported strange odors aboard the same aircraft on flights from Charlotte to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 28 and 30, Mohr said. No passengers complained, she said.

The first time, maintenance workers were flown to San Juan to fix the jet and it returned to the skies the same day, Mohr said. But the second incident sidelined the aircraft for six days after workers found that leaking hydraulic fluid got into the cabin air system, she said.

Repair workers will comb the jet to find what was behind Tuesday’s problem, Mohr said.

“Certainly, we’ve got the aircraft and we’re thoroughly investigating,” she said.

On Tuesday, a fire department hazardous materials unit checked for contaminants in the Jamaica-bound jet’s cabin but found none, Charlotte Fire Department airport operations chief Shane Nantz said. Everyone was off the jet and the cabin doors had been opened by the time the team arrived, so firefighters did not notice any odd smells, he said.