PORTLAND — A commercial airline flight to Chicago was canceled Monday night after the jet’s pilot noticed smoke coming from the cockpit’s control panel.

Forty-seven passengers on a United flight bound for Chicago were evacuated from the jet after the pilot saw smoke coming from the avionics panel, said Paul Bradbury, director of the Portland International Jetport.

The jet is an Embraer regional jet, produced in Brazil.

Passengers were still boarding — a few had been seated and put their carry-on bags in overhead compartments — when they were told to leave the plane around 6:45 p.m.

The jetport’s air rescue team responded but could not find any evidence of a fire in the plane, said Portland Deputy Fire Chief Scott Thomes.

Thomes said the smoke was likely caused by a short circuit in the cockpit. The plane was taken out of service for the evening to give mechanics more time to check it out.

Some of the passengers found other flights to Chicago on Monday night, while many were forced to fly out of Portland this morning, Bradbury said.

“The jet was still connected to the (boarding) bridge,” Bradbury said. “If this was going to happen, then this was a good place for it to happen.”

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.