Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing Due to Engine Issue: 'Suddenly There Was Smoke in the Cabin'
A Delta Air Lines flight made an emergency landing on Tuesday after the plane's cabin filled with smoke.
Delta flight 2846 was headed from Atlanta to Los Angeles when a smoky odor was observed in the cabin, an airline spokesperson tells PEOPLE. Crew members also noticed a performance issue with one of the aircraft's two engines, which prompted the emergency landing.
In footage posted on social media, seated passengers can be seen in the visibly hazy cabin as an alarm goes off.
"Everything was normal and then suddenly there was smoke in the cabin," Mason Weiner, one of the passengers who captured footage from the flight, told NBC News.
The passenger noted that flight attendants helped keep everybody calm, told them that "it wasn't a fire" and that they should "keep seated."
TMX Delta Flight 2846
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that there was also a report of smoke in the cockpit. Fortunately, the flight was able to land safely around 2:45 p.m. local time in Albuquerque.
Officials have not yet made it clear if the smoke and the engine issue were related.
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Journalist Matt Johnson, who was on the flight, said that after the safe landing, passengers made sure to show their appreciation to the flight crew.
"Our pilots received a round of applause from stranded passengers," he wrote on social media, adding in another message that the flight attendants were also applauded.
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After landing, Delta used another aircraft to continue the trip to Los Angeles.
"Nothing is [more] important than the safety of our customers and crew," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. "That's why our flight crew followed procedures to safely divert flight 2846 on Nov. 1 to Albuquerque."
"Delta teams worked safely and quickly to get our customers on their way that evening and we apologize for the delay in their travel plans," the spokesperson added.
