An EL AL flight diverted to Halifax after the smell of smoke filled the rear of the Boeing 777-200. But this was more than just a delay…it was another logistics challenge as Sabbath quickly approached.
LY26 departed Newark on Thursday night, bound for Tel Aviv. It was due to arrive just after 1:00PM on Friday, giving observant passengers just enough time to get home prior to the start of Shabbat.
About there hours into the flight, however, passengers smelled smoke. The flight crew decided to make a U-turn and land in Halifax, which was the closest major airport. Once on the ground, a full technical inspection was ordered.
Flight diversions are fairly common. I cover this particular diversion because it happened late on Thursday night. Even when repaired, the aircraft could not continue to Tel Aviv because it would land after Shabbat, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. EL AL does not operate over Shabbat.
We’ll return to that dilemma in a moment.
First, I think it is always helpful not to downplay how scared something like smoke onboard and a sudden U-turn makes passengers. Dorit Adi, a passenger onboard, told the Times of Israel:
“Suddenly I saw the flight attendants running and there was a smell of smoke. I saw on the screen that the plane was doing a u-turn and it was terribly frightening. We were told that there was smoke in the back of the plane. It is terrifying, you don’t know what will happen.”
“We were told to put our shoes on and fasten our safety belts. The big fear was of landing, that something would happen. In the end we landed safely and then we were on the plane for another three hours.We are now at the Halifax airport where we have been waiting for two hours for a bus to take us to the hotel. The staff is in contact with us all the time and they are trying to help.”
Scary indeed. The passengers were eventually accommodated in a local hotel.
The Sabbath Dilemma
But there was another problem: Shabbat was approaching.
When I saw the EL AL flight diverted, I smiled and thought I’m sure Chabad came to the rescue. Indeed, I was correct.
If you’re not familiar with Chabad organizations, I covered another EL AL diversion here…it was one of my favorite stories I’ve written on Live and Let’s Fly.
> Read More: The Good That Came From The Delayed EL AL Flight
With news of the incoming flight, three organizations sprang into action. First, Chabad of Halifax was on-site to assist passengers. Next, Montreal Hatzolah rapidly assembled Kosher meals for the passengers and flew them to Halifax this morning. Hatzalah is a volunteer emergency medical service organization serving mostly Jewish communities around the world. Finally, Gourmet Glatt, an upscale Kosher supermarket in Brooklyn assembled more food that was flown to Halifax.
In the end, the passengers are currently enjoying a restful Sabbath with full stomachs…it truly warms my heart to see the community rush to the aid of stranded travelers.
CONCLUSION
No delay is a necessarily a fun delay, but honestly…if I ever am delayed on EL AL I hope it is just before Shabbat. I also hope the passengers of LY26 make it home tomorrow night.
image: Aero Icarus / Wikimedia Commons
Religious nutjobs should not be able to dictate to the rest of society what should be done.
It’s bad enough those idiots put crap written in some stupid book written centuries ago probably by someone high on drugs over proven science but to force other sane people to follow your crap is discrimination. A private company that caters to all kinds of people should not be allowed to take a religious holiday and inconveniencing other people.
That said i am surprised they don’t get smoke alarms more often on late Thursday flights. Got to work the system.
People in Tel Aviv got so weary of the lack of public transport during Shabbat that they organised their own….and it’s highly successful.
You are right about the ultra religious whack-jobs: they have even managed to stop the extradition ,back to Australia ,of a female principal of an orthodox school in Melbourne , charged with extremely serious sex offences. Utterly shameless.
If they want exemption from vaccination on religious grounds we want exemption from sabbath.
This is not just about Jewish religion of course. All religions do this because if they truly gave freedom of choice to people, most people would leave religion, so they enforce it through brainwashing and regimentation. We talk down about the mullahs in Iran but the right wing christian’s that are the main supporters of republicans try to control society according to their scriptures too. There is more in common between republicans and Iranian mullahs than not, both are right wing fascists, both are elitists, both would resort to violence to gain upper hand and both rely on religion more to brainwash and control than for spiritual needs.
Wow. Amazing that a story about Jews leaping into a action to help stranded passengers turns into anti semitic rants. El Al is not the only airline flying to Israel. People who want to fly on the Sabbath can make a different choice. And you should know that something like 75 % of Israelis, even non Orthodox, observe the sabbath in some way and probably greatly appreciated the meals and hospitality they were given. I flew on the flight from Newark that left just before this stranded one. I had missed my connection the day before due to Newark wind issues. I met several Israelis who were bumped.to this 8pm flight while we were all arranging new connections. I hope they are all home safe and I feel lucky we were able to get.in the earlier flight landing in Israel at 6am on Friday.
Hey Debit here’s a bright idea.,.don’t fly EL AL if it bothers you so much. Your comment doesn’t come off as “freedom of choice” either you sound like a completely racist moron. It’s people like you that should think before typing/opening their mouth and looking like a complete fool.
Well said, Brandon!
I am 100% sure Israelis are/ were are racists who wanted mostly ashkenazi jews in israel and discriminatinated against Africans and arabs even if they were jewish. So stop pretending being virtuous.
Being anti sabbath doesnt make me racist. There needs to be a race involved in the discussion to be called a racist. Stop pushing your religion on others.
@debit hate-mongering much?
No. It’s called freedom of choice.
That’s just another consideration of travel. If you depart on Thursday on El Al, your delay may be longer due to Shabbat.
It’s nice that Montreal Hatzolah and Gourmet Glatt assembled meals but they should have waited until AFTER Shabbat to ship them.
So what was the reason for the smoke?
Great article it was a falty lightbulb
I’m really surprised that someone as intelligent as Mathew, who has flown all over the world, and is a highly intelligent individual, would still allow the sick anti-semitic filth, as posted by Debit and Paolo (the real whack jobs). This is not the first time this garbage, which reminds me of The Daily Stormer, and Der Stuermer, has appeared on this site. A few months ago, the Air France pilot, who assisted the hijacked passengers on the flight which was hijacked from Athens to Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, passed away. I was shocked at some of the sick articles which appeared on this board, at that time, pertaining to Jews.
Individuals who use the anonymity of the internet, to post anti-semitic hate messages, are cowards. They are no different, than the pieces of garbage, who attack Jews in Jersey City, Monsey, Crown Heights, Williamsburg, and Boro Park.
Signed- Nate- A proud American Jew.
Incidentally, our people have been in the USA, since the 1600’s, when New York was a Dutch colony, and we don’t intend to leave, whether you anti-semities like us or not!
P.S. I still remember, when I served in the armed forces of the USA, that I encountered anti-semitism from two-legged jackasses!
I would have flown on Air Canada on Shabbat!