Smoke-filled Porter flight passengers 'used scarves to breathe'

Morning North3:58Problems on the ground after forced landing by Porter flight

A forced landing by a Porter Toronto to Sudbury flight at Pearson due to smoke filling the cabin was bad enough, but some are saying there were even more problems on the ground. Passenger Devon Jahnke told us about the lack of support on the ground.Sudbury bound passengers who were on a Porter Airlines plane that filled with smoke are glad to return home.

The 74 people spent the night in Toronto after smoke started to seep into the cabin of their Porter Airlines passenger plane, not long after the plane left Billy Bishop airport in Toronto.

Radio-Canada reporter Mireille Langlois was on board the plane.

"Our flight was an hour late when we finally left Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport to go to Sudbury. We were on the flight for maybe half an hour, when some passengers started to see smoke inside the cabin, and smell a really, really bad smell," she recalled.

​"So the people on the plane asked us to just put our head on our knees and wait. We were all breathing [through] our scarves. No [oxygen] masks went out, so we just used our scarves to breathe."

The plane was rerouted back to Toronto's Pearson airport.

When the Porter flight landed in Toronto, the passengers applauded, Langlois said.

"I can tell you some people were a little bit afraid, but I can tell you today people are really happy to be back on their feet."

Once landed, "two firefighters came inside the [plane] to make sure we were alright," Langlois continued.

"We took a bus to the airport and then finally we were able to get to a hotel for the rest of the night."

The passengers were to fly to Sudbury on board another Porter flight Monday morning.

Two Porter Airline flights out of Toronto had to make emergency landings over the weekend because of smoke inside the aircraft.

The first flight, bound for Washington D-C with 66 passengers aboard, was diverted to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where it landed without incident.

The second flight, was the one bound for Sudbury.

Porter spokesman Brad Cicero said two passengers on that flight were seen by medical staff for suspected anxiety.

Up North8:42Passenger reflects on Porter's emergency landing

Porter flight PD539 between Toronto and Sudbury was forced to make an emergency landing after smoke was detected in the cabin.