A Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Cuba after a bird strike occurred after takeoff.
Bird Strike Sends Southwest Airlines 737 Max 8 Back To Cuba For Emergency Landing
On Sunday, March 5, 2023, Southwest Airlines flight 3923 took off from Havana, Cuba (HAV) bound for Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL). Just after takeoff, a (multiple) bird strike occurred sending smoke through the cabin. Video captured by a passenger shows panic onboard after the strike:
🚨🚨 SOUTHWEST flight #WN3923 (N8792Q) from HAV to FLL declared mayday shortly after take off due to engine problem apparently caused by a bird strike, airplane landed, everyone onboard safe as well
-shame pax keeps getting their luggage over an an emergency#aviation #news pic.twitter.com/z6lCcvpdB3
— Marcos Oliveira 📸🗞️ (@AeroMarcos320) March 6, 2023
147 passengers and six flight crew members were onboard the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet. After the flight returned to Havana, passengers were evacuated via the deployment of escape slides.
Ultimately, no injuries were reported. But that does not downplay the few moments of sheer terror that occurred as smoke filled the cabin. One passenger told NBC News:
“Nobody could breathe. It was burning so much in the lungs. People were just screaming. Kids were screaming.”
For its part, Southwest Airlines offered an apology for the inconvenience:
“The customers and crew were bussed to the terminal and will be accommodated on another flight to Fort Lauderdale. We commend the swift, professional actions of our pilots and flight attendants in responding to this event. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and have reached out to address their needs and offer support.”
CONCLUSION
While bird strikes are fairly common and the passengers were likely not in any serious danger onboard, there is no denying the terror of smoke filling an airline cabin, especially when breathing becomes difficult.
Kudos to the Southwest pilots for getting the 737 Max 8 back on the ground so quickly and safely. Now comes the challenging part of dealing with a damaged plane in trade-embargoed Cuba.
I’m glad everyone is OK. When I saw “Southwest flight diverts to Cuba” I pictured something like CUN-STL, or AUA-HOU diverting… you know, REAL Southwest passengers. The thought of 160 of them inadvertently traveling to Cuba is pretty funny to me.
Lol. The routing was probably HAV-FLL-STL-HOU–no plane change.
And look at all of them taking a slide with their huge carry-ons! That’s a no-no I thought.
Wow, people are still flying Southwest? Did they really think that they’d get to their destination on time?
Why has southwest service been that bad in the last 15 years.
I used to use them to get me to Florida and back to providence.
Cheap flight with no extras but if purchased in advance there was a huge savings.