Eerie Similarities to Last Week's Crash Forces Alaska Airlines Jetliner Make Emergency Landing
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: More trouble in the skies to report this morning, and the incident involves another Alaska Airlines MD-80 that's almost too eerie to believe. Last night, a plane made an emergency landing at San Francisco International Airport after sparks were seen shooting from the tail section, and this plane was flying the same route as the Alaska Airlines jet that crashed last week. We get more on this now from CNN's Greg Lefevre.</s>GREG LEFEVRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In video shot by a hospital worker near San Francisco Airport, sparks can be seen coming from the back of an Alaska Airlines jetliner as it prepared for an emergency landing. So eerie: It was the same flight run, from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco to Seattle, the same series plane, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80, that crashed exactly one week before, the flight number now changed from 261 to 289.</s>CONTROL TOWER: OK, clear to land 28 right Alaska 289.</s>LEFEVRE: The control tower can be heard clearing the plane on its approach. Air traffic controllers and other pilots had noticed sparks coming from the rear of the jet as it took off from San Francisco bound for Seattle. They notified the pilot, who requested an emergency landing back in San Francisco. The plane returned and landed safely.</s>DENNIS NEVES, SAN FRANCISCO INTL. AIRPORT: The aircraft landed safely on runway 28-right, and the aircraft taxied to gate 28. All the passengers deplaned at that point.</s>LEFEVRE: No one was injured, there was no fire and no immediate explanation for the sparks. Passengers were diverted to another flight and on to Seattle. There was no indication that this emergency was related to the rear horizontal stabilizer problems that have occurred on other MD-80 series aircraft. Greg Lefevre, CNN, San Francisco.