Cockpit fire forces New York-bound flight to return to Toronto

A flight heading from Toronto to New York City earlier this month had to turn around because of a “burnt electrical smell” in the cockpit.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says Endeavor Air Flight 4826 left Toronto’s Pearson International Airport the morning of Feb. 3 and was headed to JFK airport in New York when the flight crew declared an emergency.

The safety board says the crew was investigating the smell on the Bombardier twin-engine jet when the captain’s-side windshield electrical heater control unit began emitting sparks and flames.

It says they put on oxygen masks, declared the emergency and requested a return to Toronto, where the plane landed without further incident.

It adds that the sparks and flames stopped when the flight crew turned off the windshield heat.

There were 74 people aboard the flight and no injuries were reported.

A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines, which owns Endeavor Air, said in a statement that technicians later replaced the plane’s windshield and windshield heating unit.