PV Bound Edmonton Bagpipers Provide Musical Interlude for Diverted Passengers Cailynn Klingbeil - Edmonton Journal
go to original March 17, 2014

The Edmonton Transit System’s pipes and drums band played an impromptu show at a western Montana airport Sunday afternoon when a flight from Edmonton to Mexico carrying about 150 passengers — including about 40 band members — made an emergency medical landing.

Sunwing Airlines Flight 559 passenger Cathy Burden said the plane bound for Puerto Vallarta had been in the air for about an hour and a half and people were dozing off when it encountered extreme turbulence.

“The plane dropped incredibly. It rocked and rolled and was rattling around. It was scary as can be,” Burden said, speaking from the Helena Regional Airport, where the Boeing 737 landed at about 7:30 a.m.

A male flight attendant was injured and was checked out by a medical team, but no other injuries were reported.

Burden said the plane and its passengers sat on the tarmac for about 5-1/5 hours. The small airport doesn’t have customs working on weekends, so passengers had to wait for a customs agent to arrive and clear them before they could go into the airport. Passengers were then told they couldn’t leave the airport or go outside.

That’s when members of the Pipes and Drums of Edmonton Transit System, who are travelling to the first International Celtic Music Festival in Puerto Vallarta, took out their instruments. The group is the City of Edmonton’s official pipe band.

“We wanted to cheer people up,” said band member Neil Wong.

While some band members had checked their instruments in, Wong and a few other pipers had taken their bagpipes as carry-on luggage.

“We had about eight pipes available, so we got the pipes out, got tuned up and started our set,” Wong said.

The band played for a “lively crowd” for about 15 minutes.

“It was wonderful entertainment for the rest of us,” said Burden, whose husband and son are drummers in the band. “The (airport staff) brought in beer and food, so we’re having a good time now.”

Sunwing Airlines spokeswoman Janine Chapman said another aircraft was sent from the company’s headquarters in Toronto to pick up the passengers so the initial plane can be examined for damage. The second plane arrived in Helena on Sunday evening.

Despite the long day of travel, Wong said band members are looking forward to playing in Mexico for St. Patrick’s Day and in the festival that runs March 21-22.