PSA Flight From County Lands With Smoking Air Conditioner

A Pacific Southwest Airlines flight from Orange County to Sacramento landed with smoke coming from the aircraft cabin’s air-conditioning ducts Tuesday night, alarming the 39 passengers on board but injuring no one, an airline spokesman said.

The smoke was noticed while the plane, a BAe 146-200, was on its final approach to Sacramento airport, and it landed at 5:08 p.m., a few minutes before its scheduled arrival time, PSA spokesman Bill Hastings said. A malfunctioning air-conditioning unit apparently caused the smoke, which dissipated as the cabin was depressurized on the ground.

Airport emergency vehicles and crash rescue units were standing by on the runway, but the pilot taxied the aircraft to its gate and the passengers disembarked from the plane into the terminal, Jim Mosley, airport deputy director, said.

“No one was ever in any danger,” Hastings said. “It was a little disconcerting to the people aboard to see smoke coming out of the vents . . . but it cleared out immediately when they landed.”

Airline mechanics were still trying to determine what caused the air-conditioning unit to malfunction. The plane is the same type that crashed near Paso Robles earlier this month after a former PSA employee apparently opened fire on a passenger and the pilot and co-pilot.