British Airways A319 at London on Feb 16th 2020, chemical odour on board

Last Update: June 12, 2020 / 20:13:51 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 16, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
British Airways

Flight number
BA-466

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Madrid, Spain

Aircraft Registration
G-EUPL

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

A British Airways Airbus A319-100, registration G-EUPL performing flight BA-466 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Madrid,SP (Spain), rotated for takeoff from Heathrow's runway 27R when a strong chemical odour developed in cockpit and cabin. The crew completed the initial climb, then ran the relevant checklist, the odour dissipated, cabin crew also confirmed the odour was dissipating, the whole event lasted for about 2 minutes, due to the short duration neither flight crew had donned their oxygen masks or cabin crew their protective equipment. As the odour had subsided the crew decided to continue the flight. Enroute while nearing Spain both flight crew realized they felt dizzy, had difficulties in concentrating and were feeling increasingly tired and exhausted. Some cabin crew in the meantime inexplicably poured water onto the galley top instead of into the sink. The aircraft managed a safe landing on Madrid's runway 32L about 2 hours after departure.

Medlink instructed the crew to use portable oxygen for 20 minutes each.

The aircraft remained on the ground for about 3 hours, then departed for the return flight to London. After the return to London the aircraft remained on the ground for 4.5 hours, then resumed service.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 16, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
British Airways

Flight number
BA-466

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Madrid, Spain

Aircraft Registration
G-EUPL

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

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