Lufthansa A321 at Cologne and Munich on Jun 21st 2018, fumes on board

Last Update: July 10, 2018 / 16:19:48 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 21, 2018

Classification
Accident

Cause
Fumes on board

Airline
Lufthansa

Flight number
LH-1989

Departure
Cologne, Germany

Destination
Munich, Germany

Aircraft Registration
D-AIRO

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200, registration D-AIRO performing flight LH-1989 from Cologne to Munich (Germany) with 200 passengers and 6 crew, was preparing for the flight. When the crew boarded the aircraft flight crew as well as cabin crew noticed an abnormal odour on board, which was described rancid to sourly, the odour however appeared to dissipate. Maintenance was called but did not notice the odour, the aircraft was dispatched. After departure the odour intensified and was now described chemical, passengers began to complain about the odour. The aircraft continued to Munich for a safe landing. The crew went to a hospital for check ups.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Munich for 42 hours before returning to service.

According to information The Aviation Herald received at least one of the flight attendants was diagnosed with unusual lung vesicular sounds, a disturbance of lung diffusion with substantially decreased transfer factor of the lung for carbon monoxide and cognitive impairment.

On Jun 25th 2018 Germany's BFU reported they have been informed about the occurrence and are collecting further information to decide about the classification of the occurrence.

On Jul 3rd 2018 the BFU followed up stating the occurrence was not rated an accident or serious incident and is not being investigated.

On Jul 9th 2018 the airline confirmed one of the flight attendants is still on sick leave (rated a work accident), the other crew returned to duties. Shortly after takeoff a rancid odour was detected, which continued until landing in Munich. Maintenance in Munich was able to detect the odour, too, and described it as odour of vomit. Following the fume event a "deep cleaning" of the aircraft was performed, the recirculation filters were replaced and several test runs were conducted before the aircraft returned to service without any further anomalies.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 21, 2018

Classification
Accident

Cause
Fumes on board

Airline
Lufthansa

Flight number
LH-1989

Departure
Cologne, Germany

Destination
Munich, Germany

Aircraft Registration
D-AIRO

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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