An American Eagle airplane out of San Juan made a safe emergency landing at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas Friday.
"There were 59 passengers and two pilots on board, but thankfully there were no reported injuries, deaths or damages to the aircraft," said V.I. Port Authority’s Interim Executive Director Don C. Mills in a prepared statement.
While the statement did not specify what kind of aircraft, the American Eagle fleet comprises the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, built by a French-Italian consortium. The ATR 72 seats up to 78 passengers in a single-class configuration and is operated by a two-pilot crew.
Around 4:30 Friday, the pilots aboard American Eagle flight 4848 travelling from San Juan en route to Guadeloupe reported to the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Tower on St. Thomas that the aircraft had lost power in its left engine.
The FAA tower alerted the V.I. Port Authority’s Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighter station, and firefighters were in place as the aircraft landed at CEKA at 4:33 p.m. Multiple engine aircraft like the ATR 72 can continue to fly with just one engine.
The aircraft did not need to be towed and was escorted off the runway to the ARFF parking apron at the airport.
Mills said airport firefighters inspected the runway for safety purposes, and normal airport operations were re-established at 4:45 p.m.
