British Airways B789 near Iqaluit on Sep 12th 2018, fumes in cockpit

Last Update: September 25, 2018 / 20:05:21 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of British Airways G-ZBKA, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — British Airways G-ZBKA, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (Photo credit: airlines470 / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 12, 2018

Classification
Incident

Airline
British Airways

Flight number
BA-103

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Calgary, Canada

Aircraft Registration
G-ZBKA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

ICAO Type Designator
B789

A British Airways Boeing 787-900, registration G-ZBKA performing flight BA-103 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 201 passengers and 12 crew, was enroute at FL400 about 150nm north of Iqaluit,NU (Canada) when the crew donned their oxygen masks and decided to divert to Iqaluit reporting fumes on the flight deck. The aircraft landed safely on Iqaluit's runway 16 about 25 minutes later. The aircraft stopped on the runway, the crew started the APU and shut down both engines while investigating the source of the fumes the crew described as either electrical or air conditioning in nature. After assessing the situation, emergency services reporting seeing no trace of fire, heat or smoke, the crew decided to start the engines again and taxi to the apron. Emergency services needed to attend to one of the passengers for an issue with his arm.

In the meantime a military aircraft on a mission was nearing Iqaluit and was informed about the possible runway closure due to an emergency arrival. The crew advised they had little fuel to divert, only one other airfield was in reach, they'd needed to divert immediately if the runway in Iqaluit was to be closed for some more time. After landing of the BA, when informed the Dreamliner had stopped on the runway with both engines shut down, the crew advised they'd divert to their alternate, however, when told a few minutes later that the Dreamliner had moved off the runway and the runway was open again, the military crew decided to continue to Iqaluit and landed.

The airline reported the aircraft diverted to Iqaluit due to a technical issue.

A replacement Boeing 787-900 registration G-ZBKR was dispatched from London Heathrow to Iqaluit as flight BA-9152, departing London about 13 hours after G-ZBKA landed in Iqaluit, to take the passengers to Calgary.

On Sep 25th 2018 the Canadian TSB reported the flight crew had heard the air conditioning surge periodically during cruise flight, then they heard it surge one last time before the system fell silent. At the same time cabin crew reported the inflight entertainment system had failed. The system was reset. A short time later the flight crew noticed a burnind smell on the flight deck followed by haze coming from the first officer's side. The crew donned their oxygen masks and initiated the smoke fire fumes checklist. The flight crew member on rest was called to the flight deck, the third pilot as well as the lead flight attendant confirmed the odour was present. About 5 minutes later the lead flight attendant reported the odour was subsiding, the flight crew removed their oxygen masks, however, the odour suddenly returned, haze now appeared from the captain's side. The flight crew donned their oxygen masks again, completed the non-normal checklist, declared emergency and diverted to Iqaluit. The odour remained present through descent and increased on final approach, however, was limited to the flight deck only. The aircraft landed without further incident, emergency services assessed the situation, the aircraft subsequently proceeded to the apron.