El Al passengers on way to Israel after 13 hours stuck at Canada air force base
Flight LY008 from New York to Tel Aviv was forced to make emergency landing in Newfoundland and Labrador province after the pilot reported a malfunction in the cockpit
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An El Al passenger flight carrying some 400 passengers took off on its way to Israel Sunday night from a Canadian air force base, 13 hours after their plane made an emergency landing there due to a technical fault.
Flight LY008 from New York to Tel Aviv was forced to land at the Goose Bay air force base in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador after the pilot reported a malfunction in the plane’s cockpit.
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The plane landed in Goose Bay at 5.55 a.m EST, nearly five hours after it had taken off from JFK airport at 12.41 a.m., according to El Al’s flight tracker service. But despite the airline’s immediate announcement that it would be sending a replacement aircraft to take the passengers on to Israel, it was over 13 hours before they were once again airborne.
With temperatures outside reportedly at -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 degrees Celsius), passengers huddled under blankets to stay warm.
“We’ve been here about six and a half hours,” Chen Harel, one of the passengers told Hadashot news earlier Sunday. “Every minute that passes is harder and harder for us, and we hope it will end quickly – there are adults and children here.”
The flight was set to arrive in Tel Aviv at 10.00 a.m Israel time, over 26 hours after it first took off.
The Times of Israel Community.