Ukraine International B738 at Lviv on Jan 15th 2016, smell of burning plastics in cabin

Last Update: February 3, 2017 / 16:49:29 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 15, 2016

Classification
Incident

Airline
Ukraine International Airlines

Flight number
PS-34

Departure
Lviv, Ukraine

Destination
Kiev, Ukraine

Aircraft Registration
UR-PSC

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

An Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration UR-PSC performing flight PS-34 from Lviv to Kiev (Ukraine) with 154 people on board, was climbing out of Lviv when a smell of burning plastics developed in the cabin prompting the crew to stop the climb at about 8500 feet MSL and to return to Lviv for a safe landing about 15 minutes after departure.

The airline reported that the aircraft was examined with all systems found serviceable. A piece of plastics, some cellophane, was identified as source of the smell. The passengers were provided with food, those continuing through Kiev and losing their connections were rebooked onto other connecting flights.

The aircraft was released to depart again about 8 hours after landing and reached Kiev with a delay of 8 hours.

On Apr 18th 2016 Ukraine's National Bureau of Air Accident Investigation (NBAAI) reported that during the initial climb a pungent smell of burning plastics developed in the cabin, flight attendants were unable to identify the source of the odour prompting the captain to return to Lviv. However, the crew did not work the related "Fire, Smoke or Fumes in flight" checklist, all aircraft systems worked normally, no smoke detector triggered. After landing maintenance discovered an odour of burning plastics smell with the right hand engine (CFM56) running and associated bleed air and air conditioning system operating. The odour was identified to be the result of thermal degradation of polymeric material of foreign objects in the right hand engine's ducts, additional foreign objects were also found in the ducts of the left hand engine. Following the removal of the foreign objects tests did not reproduce any further odour. The NBAAI concluded: "The most likely cause of the odour after takeoff from Lviv was the ingestion of foreign objects probably consisting of polymere material into the inner core of the engines, in particular the right hand engine, and thermal degradation of such material causing evaporation or combustion with the release of toxic substances. As result these gasses (steam or smoke) got into the aircraft's air conditioning system and into the passenger cabin."

On Feb 3rd 2017 the NBAAI released their final report in Ukrainian concluding the probable causes of the serious incident were:

The most probable cause of the foreign smell in the passenger cabin of aircraft Boeing 737-800 UR-PSC after takeoff from Lviv is a foreign substance ingested into the core of the #2 engine, probably polymer material that subsequently evaporated or combusted releasing toxic substances.

The gasses or smoke resulting from the evaporation or combustion of the polymer material under the influence of thermal distruction got into the pneumatic system of the air conditioning supplying the passenger cabin.

The NBAAI made extensive analysis reviewing other possible scenarios like a hydraulic fluid entering the air conditioning systems, e.g. as result of overfilling the hydraulic fluid reservoirs, or contamination with engine oil due to leaking engine oil invading the gas path prior to 5th and 9th high pressure compressor stages or contamination with substances entering the engine core, the analysis also focussed on the fact that the odour was noticed in the cabin but not at the flight deck. As result the NBAAI concluded that the scenarios of engine oil or hydraulic fluid contamination did not match the evidence present, however, the ingestion of an external substance was able to explain all evidence including the fact that the odour was not noticed on the flight deck.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 15, 2016

Classification
Incident

Airline
Ukraine International Airlines

Flight number
PS-34

Departure
Lviv, Ukraine

Destination
Kiev, Ukraine

Aircraft Registration
UR-PSC

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

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