CAL: No emergency, but “expedited landing” requested due to unusual odour

There was no emergency on an inbound Cayman Airways flight Thursday (27 December) but an “expedited landing” was requested by the crew after detecting an unidentified “unusual ordour” in the cabin, according to a CAL press release. 

A Cayman Islands Airports Authority spokesperson confirmed with Cayman 27 Thursday there was an emergency landing involving a CAL airplane and that roads around the airport had been blocked off. 

The airline says the flight crew did not declare an emergency and no emergency situation existed even though ground emergency services were put into action by the Owen Roberts International Airport Air Traffic Control for the landing, according to the CAL statement. 

KX505, inbound from Chicago, landed without incident. 

As the plane descended through 8,000 feet, the flight crew did request priority landing due to the odour, according to Cayman Airways. 

ORIA Air Traffic Control as a precaution then treated the request as if it was an emergency and activated emergency services on the ground, according to the statement. 

“While this event was not an actual emergency, the precautionary action taken by ORIA ATC was clearly one of due care and diligence, and for that we are appreciative,” CAL President and CEO Fabian Whorms is quoted as saying in the statement. 

CAL says did not find any defects or anomalies with the aircraft after landing that could have created the odour. 

The plane is back in service and has already conducted several flights. 

This is the third time since September emergency services were activated at ORIA for a Cayman Airways flight. 

In September, KX200 — destined for Tampa — was forced to turn around due to engine problems. Passengers on board described hearing a loud boom come from one of the engines. 

In late November, flight KX792 destined for New York was forced to return shortly after takeoff due to the cabin pressurisation system not working properly. 

No injuries were reported in any of these incidents. 

Queries sent to CAL from Cayman 27 asking for an update on the investigation into the September incident and asking for details on the November incident have not recently been answered.