The winglet flaps of the Boeing 737-700 were stuck in takeoff position after leaving Wrangell.
An Alaska Airlines jet leaving Wrangell Sunday afternoon declared an in-flight emergency while heading to Seattle. The winglet flaps of the Boeing 737-700 were stuck in takeoff position.
Flight 64 is on what’s known as the Milk Run route, which lands in three communities between Seattle and Juneau. Thirteen minutes after leaving Wrangell, landing at its routine stop in Ketchikan en route to Seattle, the plane looped around. Then it kept descending and safely landed at the Ketchikan International Airport.
Wrangellite Val Massie was on the 24-minute flight and recorded the pilot communicating with the passengers once the plane landed.
“For precautionary reasons I did declare an emergency,” the Alaska Airlines pilot said. “We’re not going to take this airplane to Seattle until it gets fixed. I suspect that’ll be quite a delay.”
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson said by email that the aircraft was then cleared to fly to Seattle after a two-hour delay during which their maintenance team inspected the problem.
Massie said she chose to get off the plane and take a different flight to Seattle, the next day. She said she’s aware of several recent in-flight problems and crashes across the country.
In January 2024, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet landed safely after a panel blew out of its fuselage over Oregon. And earlier this year commercial flights in Washington, D.C. and Alaska crashed with no survivors. .
Massie said she was grateful the pilot was transparent, even though it’s not something she wants to hear on a flight.
