A Delta Air Lines flight scheduled from New York to Paris was forced to return to JFK Airport after fumes were reported.
Pilots of the Boeing 767 declared an emergency before safely completing an overweight landing, with the plane returning to service less than a week later.
According to an Av Herald report, Delta flight 264 from New York JFK International (JFK) to Paris Charles de Gaulle International (CDG) on November 21st was climbing out of New York when it halted its climb at 12,000ft.
The pilots declared an emergency due to the presence of fumes onboard and would land back in New York approximately 40 minutes after departure.
While the fumes were apparently clearing up, pilots notified their intention to perform an overweight landing.
As the aircraft had just left New York, it was still loaded with over 100,000 lbs of fuel and weighed above its maximum landing weight (MLW) of 158,750kg.
Data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft circled a couple of times before proceeding to land back in New York.
The 767-400ER is capable of jettisoning fuel, but the flight crew evidently decided that an immediate landing was necessary rather than remaining in the air dumping fuel.
The flight eventually landed safely back at JFK Airport at around 00:45 local time, and none of its 238 passengers were injured.
One of the main risks of performing overweight landings is the increased stress and possible damage to the landing gear and overexertion of the brakes.
The aircraft involved in this incident (registration: N843MH) was not returned to service for another six days, suggesting some damage may have occurred.
My has contacted Delta Air Lines for comment and will update this story accordingly.
The 767-400ER departed New York the following morning and was repositioned to Delta's Atlanta (ATL) hub. It spent five days on the ground in Atlanta before re-entering service on November 27th with a five-hour flight to San Diego (SAN).
The aircraft will have been thoroughly inspected not just to determine the cause of the fumes but also to ascertain if any damage was incurred during the overweight landing.
The aircraft is over 22 years old having been delivered to Delta in February 2002. The plane can seat up to 238 passengers, including 34 in Delta One (business), 20 in Premium Select and 184 in economy.
Data from ch-aviation shows the airframe has accumulated over 93,000 flight hours and 15,550 flight cycles during its years flying with Delta.
Delta has experienced a couple of other fume incidents in recent weeks, including an incident just two days prior to the 767 at JFK.
On November 19th, a Delta Airbus A321 reported fumes in the cockpit as it descended into Boston Logan, while on November 6th a Delta A320 was forced to divert to Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) after a foul smell was reported on the flight deck.
