Easyjet A320 near Birmingham on Feb 25th 2019, burning electrical odour on board
Last Update: September 12, 2019 / 16:59:57 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 25, 2019
Classification
Incident
Airline
Easyjet
Flight number
U2-426
Departure
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Destination
Bristol, United Kingdom
Aircraft Registration
G-EZOI
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
The airline reported the aircraft diverted due to technical fault, the passengers were bussed to Bristol.
The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Birmingham for about 18 hours, then positioned to London Gatwick,EN (UK) and is still on the ground in Gatwick about 12 hours after landing in Gatwick.
On Sep 12th 2019 the AAIB released their bulletin concluding the probable cause of the serious incident was:
The avionics extract fan failed during flight and released smoke/fumes into the flight deck. The flight crew, already alerted to a possible problem by an unusual noise and vibration, initiated a diversion. Similar events have occurred in the past and the aircraft manufacturer, fan manufacturer and operator took action to reduce the number of occurrences.
The AAIB summarized the sequence of events: "A louder than usual noise was observed from an avionics vent fan before flight. During flight the noise increased and vibration became apparent. The crew then noticed a strong burning smell so they donned their oxygen masks and diverted the flight. An ECAM message, associated with an avionics ventilation system fault, was generated and the crew performed the associated actions. A subsequent investigation revealed the cause of the event to be worn bearings in the avionics extract fan. The fan manufacturer and the aircraft manufacturer both took safety action to prevent similar incidents in future."
The AAIB analysed:
The flight crew were aware of a possibly noisy fan before departure from Edinburgh but in the absence of any other indication decided to continue the flight. The problem worsened in flight and the commander advised the company MOC that assistance would be required at their destination. The next indication to the crew was a strong burning smell and they donned their oxygen masks at once and initiated a diversion. Subsequently, an ECAM vent extract fault alert was triggered and the crew performed the associated actions.
The source of the smoke was traced to the avionics extract fan. The aircraft manufacturer had previously acted to reduce the number of avionics fan related smoke events. Subsequently, additional action was taken to introduce an optional modification which would stop a fan before smoke was released.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 25, 2019
Classification
Incident
Airline
Easyjet
Flight number
U2-426
Departure
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Destination
Bristol, United Kingdom
Aircraft Registration
G-EZOI
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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