British Airways A320 at Tenerife on Feb 7th 2020, fumes affect both flight crew
Last Update: May 25, 2020 / 17:14:54 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 7, 2020
Classification
Accident
Airline
British Airways
Flight number
BA-2702
Departure
London Gatwick, United Kingdom
Destination
Tenerife Sur Sofia Reina, Spain
Aircraft Registration
G-GATL
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
The return flight BA-2703 was cancelled. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 30 hours, then positioned back to Gatwick as flight BA-9271. The aircraft remained on the ground in Gatwick for about 7 hours over night, then performed flight BA-2780 to Funchal and remained on the ground in Funchal for 24 hours before performing the return flight BA-2781 and continuing service.
The Aviation Herald received information that the aircraft had been assigned an ILS approach to runway 07 and was descending through about 10,000 feet when the captain noticed an unusual odour in the cockpit, the first officer confirmed smelling the odour, too, the odour quickly intensified. The first officer, pilot flying, donned his oxygen mask, while the captain decided to continue without the oxygen mask. The crew attempted to isolate the source of the fumes by turning off air conditioning pack #1. Although the airport is designated to be a "captain's landing only", the first officer continued to fly the approach while the captain declared PAN with ATC reporting fumes on board. The odour further intensified, the captain felt his eyes started stinging. The captain took control of the aircraft for the final stages of the landing following the first officer having flown the final approach. After landing the captain taxied the aircraft to the apron with emergency services in trail. After shutting down the conditions in the cockpit improved considerably when the cockpit door was opened, the odour was still present however. Both pilots looked extremely pale and had distorted perceiption of senses, both pilots thought they were much farther apart than they were, both felt dizzy and faint, both felt they had difficulties in thinking and developing clear thoughts, which made decision making much harder.
The crew requested an engineer to attend to the aircraft. The tech log had indicated a crew had heard a grating noise from the #1 engine (V2527, left hand) on Feb 6th 2020, the maintenance engineer suspected a loose bearing. The engineer responding to the captain's request on Feb 7th suspected the fumes were due to oil ingress into the left hand engine. After working for about 45 minutes the engineer was able to reproduce the odour, both pilots confirmed this was the same odour they had noticed in flight. The engineer grounded the aircraft.
Both pilots were told to visit the local hospital for blood and urine tests, the hospital however advised they did not have the relevant equipment to perform those tests. Feeling tired and fatigued the crew went to their hotel, the first officer started coughing up blood, the captain felt increasingly sick, The following day both crew consulted with Medaire.
The accident aircraft had gone through a similiar event about 3.5 months earlier, see Accident: British Airways A320 at Paphos on Oct 19th 2019, fumes in cockpit, both pilots partially incapacitated.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 7, 2020
Classification
Accident
Airline
British Airways
Flight number
BA-2702
Departure
London Gatwick, United Kingdom
Destination
Tenerife Sur Sofia Reina, Spain
Aircraft Registration
G-GATL
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
Article source
You can read 2 more free articles without a subscription.
Subscribe now and continue reading without any limits!
Read unlimited articles and receive our daily update briefing. Gain better insights into what is happening in commercial aviation safety.
Send tip
Support AeroInside by sending a small tip amount.
Related articles
British Airways A320 at Paphos on Oct 19th 2019, fumes in cockpit, both pilots partially incapacitated
A British Airways Airbus A320-200, registration G-GATL performing flight BA-2676 from London Gatwick,EN (UK) to Paphos (Cyprus), was descending…
British Airways A320 near Athens on Oct 2nd 2019, smoke in cabin
A British Airways Airbus A320-200, registration G-GATL performing flight BA-2673 from Larnaca (Cyprus) to London Gatwick,EN (UK) with 152 passengers…
British Airways A320 at Marrakesh on Dec 31st 2015, engine shut down in flight
A British Airways Airbus A320-200, registration G-GATL performing flight BA-2667 from Marrakesh (Morocco) to London Gatwick,EN (UK), was climbing out…
British Airways A320 near Zurich on Mar 23rd 2023, steam on the flight deck
A British Airways Airbus A320-200, registration G-EUUC performing flight BA-718 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Zurich (Switzerland), was descending…
British Airways B789 and Qantas A332 at Sydney on Sep 28th 2022, loss of separation during standard instrument departure
A British Airways Boeing 787-9, registration G-ZBKF performing flight BA-16 from Sydney,NS (Australia) to Singapore (Singapore), was climbing out of…
British Airways A35X enroute on Jan 22nd 2023, turbulence injures cabin crew
A British Airways Airbus A350-1000, registration G-XWBL performing flight BA-247 (dep Jan 21th) from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Sao Paulo,SP…
British Airways B78X over Atlantic on Feb 10th 2023, smoke in cabin
A British Airways Boeing 787-10, registration G-ZBLG performing flight BA-238 from Boston,MA (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 106 people on…
British Airways B789 near Halifax on Feb 1st 2023, smoke in cabin
A British Airways Boeing 787-9, registration G-ZBKL performing flight BA-216 from Washington Dulles,DC (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was enroute…
Newest articles
Westjet B38M at New York on Mar 8th 2023, nose gear trouble
A Westjet Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration C-FHCM performing flight WS-1681 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 165 passengers and 6…
United B763 at Houston on Mar 28th 2023, engine shut down in flight
A United Boeing 767-300, registration N641UA performing flight UA-129 from Houston Intercontinental,TX (USA) to Rio de Janeiro,RJ (Brazil) with 160…
Subscribe today
Are you researching aviation incidents? Get access to AeroInside Insights, unlimited read access and receive the daily newsletter.
Pick your plan and subscribePartner

A new way to document and demonstrate airworthiness compliance and aircraft value. Find out more.

ELITE Simulation Solutions is a leading global provider of Flight Simulation Training Devices, IFR training software as well as flight controls and related services. Find out more.
AeroInside Blog
Popular aircraft
Airbus A320Boeing 737-800
Boeing 737-800 MAX
Popular airlines
American AirlinesUnited
Delta
Air Canada
Lufthansa
British Airways