American Airlines Jet Makes Emergency Landing In Tulsa

An American Airlines jet heading from Dallas to Iowa was forced to make an emergency landing at the Tulsa International Airport Monday evening.

According to Victoria Lupica with American Airlines, the pilot declared an emergency when fumes were detected in the cockpit. Representatives for American described it as a "cabin odor."

Images from News On 6's Osage SkyCam Network show fire trucks made their way towards the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 after it landed safely. HAZMAT also responded.

It was a white-knuckle landing for the 63 passengers and four crew members on aboard, but Lupica said all 67 people made it safely off of the plane and were taken off the runway by shuttles.

"The lights came on and they said we're making an emergency landing in Tulsa," said passenger Tim Slavin.

The passengers stayed the night in Tulsa before boarding a flight to Cedar Rapids Tuesday morning.

People on the plane said most remained calm, but once on the ground the pilot was very urgent with his message.

Slavin said as soon as the plane came to a stop on the runway and the pilot told passengers to get off the airplane.

"The pilot opened the door and said to leave the plane and leave our stuff," Slavin said.

Everyone waited in the grass while emergency crews surrounded the plane.

Passenger John Clark said before landing everyone stayed calm.

"It wasn't too crazy. Nobody was practicing evacuation procedures or anything, just a few white knuckles," said Clark.

The flyers said it was the second issue they had just trying to get from Dallas to Cedar Rapids.

"We got back on this plane after first getting off for cabin pressure issues," said Slavin. "I guess they didn't fix the problem."

American Airlines said the pilot chose to make the emergency landing because of fumes in the cockpit.

Passengers said they're counting their blessings, but wish communication would've been better after standing around for close to two hours.

"It was an odd situation but we're lucky to be okay. But information would've been helpful with how to deal with emergencies and protocol," said passenger Dewayne Frazier.

The airline paid for hotel rooms for the passengers and the flight was set to leave for Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 9:30 Tuesday morning.