8 Hurt as Faulty Warning Light Forces Emergency Landing of Jet

Eight people were injured after a Boeing 727 charter airliner made an emergency landing because of a faulty warning light and a report of smoke, airline officials said Monday.

Mechanics for Skybus Airlines partly dismantled the starboard engine of the three-engine jet, but could find no damage from a fire.

“Our mechanics determined . . . that there was a malfunction in the warning system, but there was no fire in the engine,” said Skybus spokesman Ned Walker.

Officials said the aircraft was being returned to service.

The pilot of the chartered jet, which was making a return flight to Moline, Ill., on a Las Vegas gambling junket, dumped most of the craft’s 27,000 pounds of fuel over the desert and landed at McCarran Airport Sunday afternoon.

While evacuating the plane, eight people among the 151 passengers and crew were injured. Two suffered broken bones and were taken by ambulance to Desert Springs Hospital.

The pilot said the warning light went on 20 minutes after takeoff from Las Vegas. He requested an in-flight observation from the pilot of another plane.

The other pilot said he thought he saw a “wisp of smoke,” Walker said.

The jet was chartered by Mile High Tours, which has been booking Nevada junkets since 1984.

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the incident.