Continental Airlines Boeing 777 emergency landing on Midway
By ROSANNA RUIZ - Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Oil spewing from one of its engines, the limping airplane managed to
find
the tiny airfield at Midway Atoll.
From her window seat aboard the twin-engine Continental Boeing 777,
college
student Dawn Smith, 23, had a view of the ailing engine as she prepared
for
the landing on Midway's Sand Island airfield early Tuesday. The landing
made
for uncomfortable moments.
"The short runway was not built for a large aircraft," Smith, who
looked
flushed with her mussy hair, said Wednesday after the plane finally
made it
to Houston a day later than expected.
The 11-hour, 40-minute flight from Japan's Narita Airport to Houston's
Bush
Intercontinental Airport was due to arrive at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Continental Flight 6 had 279 passengers and 15 crew members. A
Continental
spokeswoman previously said there were 235 passengers.
No injuries were reported.
The plane made its emergency landing at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday, Midway time.
The
atoll is about 2,200 miles east of Japan and near the northwestern end
of
the Hawaiian Islands archipelago.
After repairs were made to the engine's starter, the plane left the
atoll at
2:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Smith, a Sam Houston State University history major, had studied the
island's history as a key site of a U.S. naval victory during World War
II.
She took the unexpected 24-hour layover in stride.
Still, the food rations and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements inside
a
musty theater did not make for the most stellar accommodations.
"It'll be a long time before I get on another airplane," Smith said
upon her
arrival at Bush on Wednesday. She had spent the holidays with her
sister,
who is serving aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.
Smith and the others waited a few hours aboard the plane before a
ladder was
found to get them off the aircraft. The passengers were given
sandwiches,
candy bars and beverages and were allowed to tour Midway Atoll National
Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
The pristine beaches, lush tropical foliage and millions of birds, such
as
the Laysan albatrosses or "gooney birds," Hawaiian monk seals and other
animals led Smith to conclude that "God is so wonderful."
"It was something to see," said another passenger, Allen McMahon, a
61-year-old Montgomery resident, of the onslaught of almost 300 people
to an
island that typically is populated by about 30 people.
McMahon's wife, Judy, 57, began to cry as she embraced her husband, who
appeared a little travel-weary. "I'm just glad to have him home," she
said.
Julie King, a spokeswoman for Houston-based Continental, said customer
service officials had met all passengers when they arrived at Bush.
Some
passengers upset with the inconvenience were offered travel
certificate.
Dream Land
