WILLEMSTAD – A Flight of Inselair that left St. Maarten yesterday around 1.00 p.m. bound for Curaçao, was forced to return to the airport again after one of the engines of the Fokker 50 went out because it was overheating. Fortunately, the plane landed safely at the Juliana International Airport.
Passengers aboard the aircraft indicated that after more or less 5 minutes of flight, they heard a shrill sound and one of the engines had been turned off. For this reason, the flight St. Maarten/Curacao was immediately canceled.
At the time of landing, the Fire Department of the St. Maarten airport was on alert to attend to any eventuality. In a recording that is circulating through social media, one can observe the instant when the InselAir plane lands with only one engine running. The comments of the airport workers are heard confirming that the InselAir plane returned after facing problems during the flight.
Last month a similar type of incident took place on a flight from St. Maarten to Curaçao and also had to return immediately.
Through a press release, InselAir informed that during the flight the pilots noticed that one of the engines was overheating. Due to this circumstance, they applied the prescribed procedure, to turn off the engine, return the plane to the airport and land it with the relevant security measures. All passengers received a voucher to stay at a hotel on the island, with food included. Passengers will be transported back as soon as possible.
