Passenger's device catches fire on American Airlines flight

An American Airlines flight was diverted after a passenger’s device caught fire, creating smoky conditions inside the plane and forcing it to make an unscheduled landing.

The Philadelphia to Phoenix flight — carrying 160 passengers and six crew members — landed safely at Washington Dulles International Airport Saturday after the incident, which caused a choking smoke smell to permeate the cabin. 3

Passenger Adriana Novello, 22, told ABC News she was jarred out of sleep when a flight attendant jumped on her exit row seat in a mad dash to access one of the cabin’s fire extinguishers.

“Then I started smelling smoke, and a lot of people on the plane were coughing,” she said. “But I looked behind me, and what we could tell was that there was something on fire in the aisle.” 3

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