XL Airways B738 at Cologne on Sep 3rd 2012, injuries after malfunction of air conditioning system
Last Update: December 3, 2012 / 17:01:31 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Sep 3, 2012
Classification
Accident
Airline
XL Airways Germany
Flight number
G1-110
Departure
Hanover, Germany
Destination
Cologne/Bonn, Germany
Aircraft Registration
D-AXLF
Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800
ICAO Type Designator
B738
Passengers reported the smell of kerosene on board, then smoke appeared in the cabin.
Airport Authorities reported the aircraft was evacuated (editorial note: photos of the scene show no evacuation slides deployed, but stairs at the aircraft), 7 passengers were treated for minor smoke inhalation, 4 passengers were taken to a hospital. The cause of the smoke was unknown, Airport police confirmed however that passengers reported the smell of kerosene.
The airline reported that upon touch down smoke exited the air conditioning vents for a couple of seconds, the cause being unclear. The following day (Sep 4th) the airline added that a defective hydraulic check valve near the wheel well was found. There was no smoke but vapour of hydraulic fluid that produced a pungent odour.
Cologne Fire services reported 11 people were taken to local hospitals with irritations of respiratory tract. 5 passengers received serious, 6 minor injuries.
The BFU responded to the occurrence and sent investigators on site, cockpit voice and flight data recorders were downloaded. First investigation results suggest a malfunction of the air conditioning system emitted steam, there was no evidence of smoke.
The aircraft bound for Gaziantep (Turkey) had earlier returned to Hanover already, after the crew had levelled off at FL110 due to an odour on board. The aircraft landed back in Hanover about 45 minutes after departure. Following maintenance the aircraft departed Hanover for Cologne about 5:40 hours after landing back.
A replacement Atlas Air Airbus A321-200 registration TC-ETF reached Gaziantep with a total delay of 24 hours.
In their September Bulletin released on Dec 3rd 2012 Germany's BFU reported that cabin crew believed to have observed some unusual smell during climb and informed the commander. The flight was continued. During touchdown on runway 24 a flight attendant observed smoke and odour coming from one of the over wing emergency exits, she could not determine whether it was smoke, steam or mist, the odour was "horrible and caustic, which hit her lungs". 9 seconds after "slightly positive touchdown", vertical acceleration 1.4G, while airspeed decayed through 100 knots, the captain, pilot flying, noticed black smoke invading the cockpit through the air conditioning vents and turned off both air conditioning systems and observed the smoke decreased. The first officer noticed gray smoke from the air conditioning vents which decreased after the captain had turned off both packs. After the aircraft vacated the runway he opened his side window to release the rest of the smoke. In the meantime the passengers became agitated, some passengers boxed the overhead panels opening the oxygen mask containers, multiple annoncements by flight attendants weren't able to calm the passengers. The captain continued taxi to the park position, both packs were activated again during taxi about 3 minutes prior to reaching the parking position, the doors were opened at the assigned parking position. The disembarkment of passengers however was disorderly, cabin crew perceived the passengers as highly emotional and aggressive. 11 passengers were taken to hospital but were able to continue to Gaziantep the following day. Maintenance found hydraulic fluid along the full length of the tubing to the pneumatic manifold, the contamination began at the connector to the hydraulic reservoir pressurization system, in the tube and filter to the hydraulic A-system considerable amounts of hydraulic fluid were found. The needle showing the filling level was near the full state, however could not be exactly determined due to the glass being steamed up, the indicator of the B system was beyond full. Boeing customer support had warned in 2004, that filling the hydraulic reservoirs beyond full would result in hydraulic fluid entering the pneumatic system and air conditioning systems.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Sep 3, 2012
Classification
Accident
Airline
XL Airways Germany
Flight number
G1-110
Departure
Hanover, Germany
Destination
Cologne/Bonn, Germany
Aircraft Registration
D-AXLF
Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800
ICAO Type Designator
B738
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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