jet2 B738 at Glasgow on Oct 19th 2012, rejected takeoff

Last Update: October 10, 2013 / 16:36:36 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Jet2.com G-GDFJ, Boeing 737-800 — Jet2.com G-GDFJ, Boeing 737-800 (Photo credit: markyharky / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Oct 19, 2012

Classification
Accident

Cause
Rejected takeoff

Airline
Jet2.com

Aircraft Registration
G-GDFJ

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

The AAIB released their bulletin stating that one passenger received a serious and 15 passengers minor injuries during the evacuation.

The aircraft was accelerating for takeoff when the flight crew became of a strange smell in the cockpit, passengers and cabin crew noticed strange smell followed by what appeared to be smoke from the overhead bins. The chief flight attendant repeatedly pressed the flight deck call button to alert the flight crew of a developing emergency situation in the cabin. When the aircraft accelerated through 80 knots both pilots noticed "misting" in the cockpit and the smell intensified. The captain called to reject takeoff, closed the thrust levers, disconnected autothrottles, applied maximum braking, selected the spoilers fully up and opened the thrust reversers. The first officer confirmed the rejected takeoff and spoilers were fully open and thrust reversers had opened. When the aircraft declerated through 60 knots the first officer selected the flaps to 40 degrees to facilitate a possible evacuation and radioed ATC they were stopping. The chief flight attendant was called to the flight deck to brief on the status in the cabin, smoke in the cabin was clearly visible through the flight deck door, the captain therefore ordered the evacuation of the aircraft.

A number of passengers exited through the overwing exits, and given the darkness did not recognize they could slide down the flaps and instead jumped down. A number returned into the cabin and exited through the main doors.

Passengers evacuating through the doors slid down rapidly due to the wet surface and had difficulty to clear the slide before the next passenger arrived down. This caused collisions and injuries. The serious injury occurred to female passenger (77) after sliding down the door slide, when she badly landed on the runway and fractured bones in her neck. The 15 other minor injuries occurred on the door slides as well as result of collisions or being knocked over on slide off the end of the slide.

An initial examination of the aircraft's engines did not reveal any anomaly. The packs were examined and the right hand air recycle machine replaced when it hesitated to operate during the examination. Laboratory analysis revealed no anomaly however, analysis of the filters did not find any contamination.

The aircraft was testflown without recurrence before being returned to service.

The AAIB analysed: "No defects were identified on the aircraft that could have led to the smoke or fumes that were seen and smelt.

Laboratory analysis of the cabin temperature sensor air filters, exposed to cabin air, showed that there were no unusual substances or residues of oil or hydraulic fluid present.

At the beginning of the flight, the air conditioning packs were selected ON after engine start, in accordance with the standard operating procedures, but later than on the other flights sampled. This, combined with the short taxi time, may have meant that the cabin was slightly warmer than usual by the time the takeoff commenced.

The ambient conditions on the day meant the air was humid, with the temperature and dew point only one degree apart. As engine power was increased for takeoff, more air was available for air conditioning and the air conditioning system was able to supply colder air to the cabin to achieve the selected temperature. As the cabin was warm and humid, this sudden influx of cold air, potentially down to 1.7Â°C, could have caused the formation of mist or fog in the cabin which, in the low lighting conditions, could have given the appearance of smoke or fumes."