TORONTO/PORT-OF-SPAIN [Peter Paul Media] – An American Airlines jetliner en route to Miami made a safe emergency landing Friday in the Trinidadian capital after the flight crew reported hydraulic trouble shortly after takeoff. All 188 passengers and seven crew members landed safely at Piarco International Airport in Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad.
Shortly after the Boeing 757 touched down, its brakes locked up at the end of the runway, stranding the aircraft for several tense hours. The airline has provided hotel vouchers and have booked passengers on a Saturday flight, officials confirmed. Mechanics are working on cracking the mystery of what caused the earlier hydraulic problems.
Authorities shut down the airport after the incident, delaying dozens of flights but state carrier Caribbean Airlines [CAL] has since confirmed that the affected runway had now been cleared and the airport reopened.
The airline said 13 flights out of Trinidad were delayed by the emergency landing. “Caribbean Airlines is committed to getting our passengers to their travel destinations as efficiently as we can,” the company website said Friday.
Toronto-bound passenger Pamela Rampersaud shared her frustrations in Georgetown, Guyana–a destination of many CAL flights. “This is fine as everyone is safe, but don’t they have another runway. Why not just take the money they get from fares and build another,” she told Peter Paul Media from Piarco.
“They must spend money to put passengers in hotels and rebook,” she added. Her Toronto-bound flight, BW 600, was delayed for a few hours as the airline struggled to clear the backlog.
Peter Paul Media 