Swissair jet turns back to Beijing after crew notice strange smell

BEIJING (AP) -- A Swissair jet with 233 people on board turned back to Beijing after crew members noticed a strange odor in the first-class cabin, an airline official said Thursday. The MD-11 landed safely 30 minutes after taking off from China's capital Tuesday afternoon. A five-hour check by mechanics at the airport turned up nothing, although it delayed the flight overnight, said Patrick Tschirky, a Swissair manager in Beijing.

On Wednesday morning, the airplane continued on to its destination of Zurich, Switzerland without incident, he said.

In September 1998, a Swissair jet crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board. Pilots on that flight reported smoke in the cockpit before the crash.

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-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), November 09, 2000