A Spirit Airlines flight departing New Orleans en route to Dallas was forced to make an emergency landing Thursday , according to the Federal Aviation Administration . `` The crew reported smoke in the cockpit and returned to New Orleans , where the flight landed safely , '' said Lynn Lunsford , an FAA spokesman . `` As in all such cases , the FAA is following up with the airline . '' The maintenance problem did n't take the aircraft out of service for long . `` Upon indication of a smoky odor in the cabin , our flight 365 from New Orleans to Dallas/Fort Worth returned to New Orleans as a safety precaution , '' said Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson . `` It was a normal landing and customers safely deplaned . After our maintenance checked the aircraft , the flight continued to DFW . '' A man who said he was on the flight told CNN affiliate WWL that passengers heard grinding noises and the wheels retracting a couple minutes into the flight . The man , who did n't want to be identified , also said he saw smoke and felt vibrations . Another passenger said the airline told passengers that the problem might be due to the air conditioning system . Spirit Airlines ' Pinson said that Flight 365 's problems were `` unrelated '' to another aircraft 's engine troubles last week . In that case , an engine failed on Atlanta-bound Spirit Flight 165 shortly after takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport . The aircraft returned safely to the Dallas airport . Because of last week 's engine failure , this week the airline conducted inspections of all of its engines starting on Wednesday . That led to lengthy delays for hundreds of passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Wednesday night into Thursday morning , with dozens sleeping at the airport until their aircraft were cleared for takeoff . The safety checks took about 45 minutes per aircraft , Pinson said . Spirit announced Thursday afternoon that all checks had been completed and apologized for the delays . The airline said the checks were voluntary and not mandated by the FAA .
A Dallas - based Spirit Airlines aircraft makes an emergency landing safely . This aircraft 's problems were unrelated to last week 's engine failure , it says . Airline inspections after that particular flight caused delays at Fort Worth Airport .