a vibration in an engine.

The 162 passengers and six crew were held in the Bermuda International Airport's US departure lounge until the Boeing 757-200 aircraft could be repaired.

American Airlines flight 648 was enroute from Puerto Rico to New York, but landed here at 1.27 p.m.

The engine was not shut down in the incident which occurred north of San Juan.

The plane is believed to have iced over while in heavy clouds between the two Islands.

Last night, the aircraft on the scheduled evening New York-Bermuda route was used to take the stranded passengers back to the US, leaving at 9.30 p.m.

The original plane was expected to make the morning flight to New York after repairs.

Airline and Federal Aviation Administration rules dictate that twin engine aircraft are landed at the closest airport after experiencing engine trouble.

Ironically, the incident occurred just an hour after a post-mortem into last week's diversion of a Continental Airlines flight that had hit severe turbulence.

Director of Airport Operations Lester Nelson said a regularly scheduled exercise was replaced by the post mortem to discover what could be improved in the Airport's response to such emergencies.

Mr. Nelson added: "We're getting a lot of experience with this. It's the fourth diversion by a commercial, private or military aircraft.'' "Our response was standard. It landed without incident,'' he said. "Everyone did a fantastic job.'' The Airport Fire Department -- which is under the Ministry of Transport -- was backed up by ten Bermuda Fire Service trucks with 33 firefighters from Clearwater and Hamilton Stations. Volunteers from St. George's Fire Department also attended.