Smoke in the cabin led to an emergency landing of a Delta flight in February. Only later did officials realize there was little to no oil in the aircraft's right engine. That reveal, coming in a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released Wednesday, raises new questions about what led to the emergency landing and evacuation in Atlanta. Delta Flight 876 had departed Atlanta for Columbia, South Carolina, on Feb. 24, per CBS News. It wasn't in the air long before smoke began filling the cabin. Flight attendants described smoke coming through a door and "out of all the vents," per the NTSB report. The lead flight attendant said smoke was so thick "he was unable to see past the first row of seats."
It was only when the pilots heard a flight attendant knocking on the cockpit door that they themselves noticed smoke rising from the floor, per CBS. They also received a "low oil pressure" alert on the right engine, which they turned off, per FOX 5 Atlanta. "They donned their oxygen masks and initially delayed responding to the flight attendant calls, as the captain focused on flying the airplane while first officer declared an emergency with air traffic control," the NTSB report notes, per CBS.
The plane carrying 94 passengers, three flight attendants, and the two pilots returned to Atlanta for an emergency landing and evacuation. Passengers exited the plane using emergency slides or by walking across the wings, and two ended up with minor injuries, FOX 5 reports. A maintenance crew later found "no oil visible in the sight glass of the right engine reservoir," indicating the oil tank was empty or nearly empty, the report adds. It doesn't mention the level of engine oil before takeoff. The investigation is ongoing. (More National Transportation Safety Board stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
