Jet makes emergency landing in Aleutians

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- American Airlines says one of its jets made an emergency landing on an island in Alaska's Aleutians after a fire warning light went off.

Company spokesman Tim Smith says Flight 175, en route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Tokyo, landed safely on Shemya Island shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday. It turned out there was no fire, despite the warning light from a cargo compartment of the Boeing 777.

Smith says the 197 passengers were evacuated while the cargo was removed.

The jet later flew to Anchorage, arriving just before 4 a.m. Monday.

The Coast Guard says it initially was told the plane was on fire. Petty Officer Chris Gauthier says the Coast Guard had a C-130 on standby on Kodiak Island, but it was not deployed.

Wow, Shemya! That's not quite at the end of the Earth, but you can see it from there! I knew guys who flew various flavors of -135 out of Shemya, and if the weather wasn't right, it was a fun place to get into.

Can you see Russia from there?

The bird is sitting at a gate in ANC right now. Never got a shot of it but I got a shot of the one they ferried in to take the pax as I was there spotting today

I didn't even know Shemya was still open.

It is, but they renamed it, so as to avoid scaring those who receive assignments there... :wink: