PORTLAND, Ore. — An Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle returned to PDX after pilots received a warning notification about one of the propellers shortly after takeoff, an airline spokesperson said.
The pilots of flight 2228 shut down one of the engines and turned the plane around out of an abundance of caution. They landed safely at PDX just before 11 a.m.
The pilots notified the passengers of the situation on the plane’s intercom.
“It was pretty calm. Nobody reacted and the pilots handled it very smoothly,” said passenger Clark James. “With what’s been happening with the other Boeing planes lately I was already nervous about flying, so I can’t say it wasn’t unnerving but we made it home safe.”
The aircraft was not a Boeing plane. It was a Bombardier Q400.
"Planes are equipped with two engines, so that in the unlikely event there is an issue with one engine, the pilot can still land safely. While rare, our pilots are trained for these situations every year," said Alaska spokeswoman Bobbie Egan.
There were 76 passengers and 4 crew members on board. No one was hurt.
“People were pretty chill. They were calm about it and I think everybody had great faith in the pilots. We were all thankful that we had two engines,” said James.
Alaska said it would get passengers on another plane bound for Seattle.