The passengers remained inside the plane for several hours while security forces intervened.
What happened this Thursday, October 31 aboard American Airlines Flight 954? Mystery… The plane which took off at 9:15 p.m. from Ezeiza international airport (Buenos Aires province in Argentina) bound for New York (United States), was forced to turn around shortly after the takeoff, while flying over the Córdoba region.
The pilot took the decision “as a precautionary measure” after the crew and passengers reported hearing unusual noises in the plane's hold, as if someone was knocking from below asking for help. help, reports the Argentinian media Clarin.
After the emergency landing, an elite team from the Airport Security Police (PSA) inspected the aircraft for any anomalies. In vain.
All the aircraft's cargo holds were checked and even the sniffer dogs deployed found no signs of danger.
American Airlines flight AA954 returns to Buenos Aires Airport after a ground worker gets trapped in the cargo hold.
Flight attendants alerted the pilots to a banging noise coming from the cargo hold as the aircraft was heading to New York. An hour into the flight the crew… pic.twitter.com/lT5synhhRB
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) https://twitter.com/aviationbrk/status/1852348981616984226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to the PSA, the captain alerted the control tower explaining that “noises were heard in the hold, enough to suggest that there was something unusual”.
Passengers expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of clear information about the incident and the resulting delays. They said they waited “several hours inside the plane before receiving official information on the situation and the procedures that were going to be implemented,” the newspaper said.
“How scary,” said one of them who recorded the scene of the intervention of the police.
“Reports of a person in the cargo hold are not accurate. Flight 954 returned to Buenos Aires due to a reported noise in the cargo hold, but after an extensive search it was determined that he was not “There was no problem,” American Airlines said on X. The flight was canceled and the company reassigned passengers.