SEATTLE (AP) — An Alaska Airlines passenger jet had to make an emergency return to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a company mechanic apparently left a landing-gear door open, the company has acknowledged.
It happened on Wednesday afternoon, after the pilot of Flight 536 asked mechanics to fix a broken taxi landing light. The open door caused vibrations strong enough for passengers to take notice immediately after takeoff.
"The second the plane lifted off, it wasn't trying anything dramatic, but you could feel the resistance," Nick Block, 21, a passenger on the Burbank, Calif.-bound plane, told The Seattle Times.
The MD-80 jet landed safely at Sea-Tac at 4:36 p.m., 16 minutes after it departed, Alaska spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.
The landing-gear door on the MD-80 is normally closed. It opens briefly when the pilot retracts the landing gear after takeoff, and again when the pilot deploys the landing gear before the plane touches down.
Port of Seattle fire trucks and emergency vehicles were standing by when the jet landed, at the pilot's request, airport spokesman Bob Parker said.
It's the latest in a string of incidents involving Alaska Airlines planes.
On Dec. 26, an MD-80 returned abruptly to Sea-Tac after a hole opened in the fuselage at 26,000 feet. A ramp worker for Alaska's baggage handling contractor, Menzies Aviation, caused the damage when he hit the plane with a baggage loader and did not immediately report it.
Last Thursday, a 737 was damaged at Sea-Tac when a Menzies ramp worker inadvertently threw a tug into gear, pushing the plane into a jetway and a baggage loader.
The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $500,000 civil penalty against the Seattle-based airline, saying it operated a Boeing 737 on 478 flights without proper emergency lighting.
Earlier this week, an Alaska Airlines passenger said a ground worker threw a crate holding her dog into a plane, rather than loading it with a conveyor belt.
Menzies and Alaska Airlines said last week they were tightening supervision of the baggage handlers.
On Thursday, Alaska Airlines announced that Dave Prewitt, the company's vice president of safety, will leave the airline next month to become vice president of safety for Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft.
"In six years with Alaska Airlines, Dave has led a safety division dedicated to upholding the highest standards in the industry," Alaska CEO Bill Ayer said in a statement.
The company said Prewitt cited his desire to move closer to his family as a major factor in his decision to leave the company.
In other corporate changes, the airline announced that Kevin Finan had been promoted to vice president of operations and Glenn Johnson had been named senior vice president of customer service for airports.
Formerly vice president of flight operations, Finan will run the airline's day-to-day operations, including ground and flight operations, maintenance and engineering and real estate.
A former senior vice president of customer service for Horizon Air, Johnson became Alaska's vice president of finance in 2003. For the past six months, he has led an operations team that has focused on improving the airline's on-time departure and arrival rate.
