Regina woman says Air Canada emergency landing was her 'worst nightmare coming true'

A Regina woman who was on an Air Canada flight is recovering from a "surreal" experience after an in-flight emergency led to an unscheduled landing Tuesday morning.

"It was my worst nightmare coming true," said Stephanie Campbell, who was travelling from Mexico City to Vancouver.

She said they had completed two-thirds of their journey when she saw the flight changing its route on the electronic screen in front of her.

"All of a sudden the flight path changed quite dramatically, and then the destination on the screen changed," she said.

She said the pilot soon announced that the notification system had alerted them about a potential fire in the cargo area.

Campbell, who was returning to Regina after a vacation with her partner, said she thought they were going to crash.

"I'm a bit of an anxious traveller to begin with and when you hear 'fire' and 'plane' in the same sentence, I mean, my mind was rushing, thinking that this is the end," she said.

She said the pilot also mentioned the possibility of a crash landing and flight attendants prepared passengers for the position they needed to take if such an event were to occur.

"There was a lot of panic on board at that point," she said, adding that she was on the verge of a panic attack.

"It was kind of like a sensory overload for me."

Campbell said the pilot and crew did a great job staying professional and keeping passengers as calm as possible given the circumstances.

Within 15 minutes, all 122 passengers and six crew on board the Air Canada Boeing Max 8 were safely on the ground at Boise Airport in Idaho.

Campbell said firefighters and first responders were on the scene to assess the situation. 

"Though trained emergency personnel are on scene, there are no reported injuries," a statement on the airport's Facebook page read.

Boeing has been under intense scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers since January, when part of the fuselage on a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet blew out mid-flight, exposing a gaping hole and forcing pilots to make an emergency landing.

A spokesperson for Boeing said the aircraft is owned and operated by Air Canada and directed all questions to the airline.

According to Transport Canada, the plane has been registered to Air Canada since Jan. 29, 2019. Its year of manufacture was also listed as 2019.

Air Canada told CBC News that Flight 997 from Mexico City to Vancouver diverted to Boise as a precautionary measure after the pilots received a warning sign.

It said the issue was determined to be a faulty cargo hold indicator.

The airline said another plane was sent the same day so passengers could complete their journey, and the original plane departed Boise shortly afterward as a ferry flight.

Air Canada confirmed that no injuries were reported.

Campbell said the airline sent an email on Wednesday with a $250 Air Canada voucher as compensation for the inconvenience.

She said it took her a day to come out of the shock from everything that happened.

"I'm thankful to be alive, that it was a false alarm, and I'm happy that it's over," she said.