An American Eagle flight out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was diverted to Greenville Wednesday night after declaring an emergency shortly after takeoff.
American Eagle Flight 3400 was headed to Quad City International Airport in Moline, Ill., when the pilots reported smoke in the cockpit.
The plane was diverted to nearby Majors Field in Greenville where pilots were able to land the plane without incident.
The airline said the landing was done out of an abundance of caution and that there were no reports of injuries to any of the 45 passengers or crew of three.
One passenger, a reporter named Tiffany Liou, took to Twitter after landing and tweeted heaps of praise on the crew for keeping everyone calm during the landing and evacuation.
In an on-air phone interview with NBC 5, Liou said the flight attendant, David, turned on all the lights and told the passengers they were going to make an emergency landing. She said the landing and evacuation were calm, in no small part to the assertiveness of the flight attendant.
Liou said that after they were on the ground and evacuated she saw firefighters extinguishing something.
According to Liou, the passengers were taken to a recreation center and will be bused back to DFW Airport Wednesday night.
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Were sitting in a rec center waiting for further instructions and keeping warm. All our stuff is still on the plane. pic.twitter.com/sDgCuJmyNZ — Tiffany Liou (@tliou) March 6, 2014
Flight 3400 between DFW and Moline typically departs around 8:10 p.m. and arrives in Moline about two hours later. At this time, there is no word from the airline on when the passengers will reach Illinois.
NBC 5 has crews on the way and we'll update this story with more information as soon as it's available. As this story is developing, elements may change.
