Emergency Landing; 7~9 Injured in Evacuation

The landing itself, a bit hurried to be sure, was fine; however, reports say as many as nine PAX were injured when evacuating an Air Tran 717 at LaGuardia (NY), after Flight 356 made its late-night flight from Atlanta, Wednesday night.

The crew detected smoke and declared an emergency, and came straight into the scheduled destination. The source of the smoke is being sought.

There were sixty-three passengers and five crew members aboard. The airport closed from 10:45 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., when one runway was reopened.

Only three other 717 incidents show up in the NTSB's directory:

• February 19, 2001: a TWA 717 sustained an in-flight thrust reverser deployment following a takeoff from General Mitchell International Airport
• August 9, 2001: a TWA 717's nose gear was unable to be extended, an emergency was declared, and the airplane made an emergency landing coming to rest on its nose and main landing gear.
• January 11, 2003: a Hawaiian 717 experienced an uncommanded roll to the left during the climb to cruise after departure.

According to the NTSB's database, this is the first time anyone has been injured on a 717 flight.

**   Report created 3/27/2003   Record 5   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 957AT        Make/Model: B712      Description: 717-200
  Date: 03/27/2003     Time: 0347
  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
  City: LAGUARDIA   State: NY   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  AIR TRAN AIRWAYS INC, TRS-356, B717-200 ACFT LANDED RUNWAY 4 AFTER DECLARING AN EMERGENCY, ON TAXIWAY F PASSENGERS EVACUATED VIA CHUTES, 7 OCCUPANTS REPORTED INJURIES, AND UNKNOWN DAMAGE TO THE  ACFT, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, LAGUARDIA, NY
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   7     Unk:   Y
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: UNK
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Landing      Operation: Air Carrier
  Departed: ATLANTA, GA                 Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: LAGUARDIA, NY            Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: UNK
  FAA FSDO: NEW YORK, NY  (EA15)                  Entry date: 03/27/2003