Delta flight makes emergency stopover on Alaska island

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A Delta Air Lines flight had to make an emergency landing on a remote island in Alaska’s Aleutians chain and another aircraft was being sent to pick up the passengers.

Citing a statement by Delta, the Anchorage Daily News reports the flight from Beijing to Seattle with 194 passengers landed Monday at a military base on Shemya Island because of a potential engine issue.

Delta spokesman Drake Castaneda said in an email that another aircraft was en route from Seattle, along with maintenance technicians and a new crew.

Shemya is near the western end of the Aleutians. It has a 10,000-foot (3,000-meter) runway at Eareckson Air Station, which serves as an Air Force refuelling hub and an emergency landing site for civilian aircraft.

Shemya is 1,450 miles (2,334 kilometres) from Anchorage.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman couldn’t be reached because of the partial federal government shutdown.

___

Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com