http://www.msnbc.com/local/KXAS/17794.asp

Plane headed to DFW makes emergency landing NBC 5 / Associated Press Two MD-80 planes, including one headed to Dallas, made emergency landings on Monday.

An American Airlines MD-80 headed to DFW was forced to land in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday.

Flight 1216, bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, had taken off at 4:55 p.m. and turned back at 5:03 p.m., airline spokeswoman Martha Pantin said in Fort Worth.

``There was a smell of smoke in the cockpit, Pantin said.

Airline officials said 114 passengers and a crew of six safely walked off the plane at Albuquerque International Airport shortly after 5 p.m.

The MD-80 is similar to the plane that crashed Jan. 31 offshore northwest of Los Angeles, killing 88 people aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

A TWA MD-80 on its way to St. Louis returned back to San Antonio Monday after reports of smoke in the cabin.

A spokesman says the trouble was traced to an air conditioning unit.

None of the 121 passengers on board were hurt.

Airlines were ordered Friday to inspect MD-80s after stabilizer jackscrew problems were found in the Alaska Airlines wreckage.

But Pantin said Mondays problem here had nothing to do with the stabilizer. She said all of the more than 280 MD-80s and MD-90s American operates have been checked for jackscrew problems and cleared.

Firefighters and maintenance crews checked the plane after the unscheduled landing, according to Pantin and Albuquerque airport spokeswoman Maggie Santiago.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), February 15, 2000

Answers

---someone want to tell me that bedtime story again about all these ho- hum "normal" glitches? Howzzat stabilizer jack screw way back in the ole tail make that smoke in the cockpit again? Oh ya, must be that embedded smoke transfer duct, whacktoforehead, how could I forgit? In fact, didn't one of the technoengineers here install all those back in 47 or something? dunno, I forget, some post or something I read, it's all gettin fuzzy.......BUT I KNOW IT'S NORMAL!

Yowza, oh boy, glad all this y2k mess is ALL cleared up, hate to think that the FIVE ZILLION GLITCHES in the last 6 weeks were y2k, cuz fer sure, none of them are, it's just @#$%^&* NORMAL. EVERY SINGLE LAST GLITCH IS NORMAL. I KNOW DATS RIGHT, TOO....cuz I asked my close personal friend, jon lovitz, he sez yep, it's a-l-l-l-l normal, yaaa, that's the ticket! Normal, ya!

Hoo boy, glad that's over! guess we can all get back to all the NORMAL burst pipes, sewage spills, natural gas leaks and explosions, planes crashing, planes smacking into each other, planes having to land for emergencies, cruise ships floating around dead in the water,trains crashing, toxic crap spilling all over,Look now we got it-now we don't gas and diesel, and NOBODYS utility bills are wrong, nor are their credit card bills or nuthin, and everyone is getting their checks, and it's the correct amount! IT'S ALL NORMAL! YIPPEE!

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.

zog, thanks for the laugh..Homer, thanks as always for the post!

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 15, 2000.

"they" really are out to get you. In fact, we are hot on your trail.

-- goz (yggozz@oohay.com), February 15, 2000.

Must be one of Hawk's non-compliant chips in the Digital Flight Guidance System exploding due to an overflowing buffer.

90% probability.

-- Mikey2k (mikey2k@he.wont.eat.it), February 15, 2000.

As opposed to what, mikey? Is anyone keeping a tally? Is that 7 or 8 MD-80s making emergency landings since January 30? Best safety record of any airplane made ..... but the seems to be taking a pounding over the fortnight.

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 15, 2000.

Ever notice, by the way, how selective most of the pollies are on which threads they post to? Generally taking only the easy shots.

FWLIW, I hark back to John H. Krempasky, of recent memory, who rode the TB2000 discourse of nuclear accidents into the ground with a similar sneering arrogance. Based on his industry expertise (of course) Krempasky eventually came up with a prediction that no more than 9 nukes would shut-down over the course of the month of January 2000 -- or, he vowed, he would compose an ultimate doomer manifesto and never post again thereafter. The final tally was 14 or thereabouts, and Krempasky went into lurker mode, never posting but once or twice since January. We never saw his Manifesto.

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-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 15, 2000.

What controls the air conditioner? Why electronics of course!

Without a doubt, this is a Y2K related buffer overflow malfunction. They are VERY lucky the whole plane didn't explode. More to come.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), February 15, 2000.

Oh boy. We're going to be treated to JPGs of digitial thermostats.

-- Mikey2k (mikey2k@he.wont.eat.it), February 15, 2000.