British Airways B744 near Moncton on Jan 21st 2019, smoke in cockpit

Last Update: January 30, 2019 / 20:23:32 GMT/Zulu time

Bookmark this article
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 21, 2019

Classification
Incident

Flight number
BA-212

Aircraft Registration
G-CIVO

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

A British Airways Boeing 747-400, registration G-CIVO performing flight BA-212 from Boston,MA (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 144 people on board, was enroute at FL390 about 100nm north of Moncton,NB (Canada) when the crew donned their oxygen masks, declared Mayday reporting smoke in the cockpit and decided to return to Boston. The aircraft descended to FL380 for the return and landed safely on Boston's runway 33L about one hour later, the flight crew was still on oxygen masks until after landing. The aircraft vacated the runway and taxied to the apron. 11 crew were taken to a hospital for checks.

A passenger reported the aircraft returned to Boston due to smoke in the cockpit, they had no lights on the way back to Boston.

Initial information received by The Aviation Herald suggested the aircraft allegedly had experienced fumes in cockpit and cabin. Later information suggests, 14 of 15 crew members were taken to hospitals. One of the crew members suffered respiratory irritations and is suffering from continued difficulties to concentrate.

The occurrence aircraft positioned back to London late Jan 23rd 2019, after about 47 hours on the ground, with one air conditioning pack disabled under minimum equipment list requirements and a flaps drive fault.

On Jan 24th 2019 the Canadian TSB reported the crew declared Mayday reporting fumes in the cockpit, worked the checklists for smoke/fire/fumes shutting down utility power (which shuts down most of cabin lighting) in accordance with an item on the checklist. The fumes became noticeable in the cabin toward the end of the flight, passenger masks were not used. One cabin crew was admitted to a hospital with minor injuries, one flight crew and nine other cabin crew went to another hospital for checkups. All crew members were released the same day. No passenger reported feeling ill. Extensive checks and function tests were carried out on a number of systems and components of the aircraft. The fumes appeared to originate from a defect or contamination inside the air conditioning pack #2 (right hand). The pack was locked out in accordance with minimum equipment list requirements and the aircraft returned to Heathrow. The TSB stated: "The pack will be inspected within the 10 day period allowable for this defect in order to determine the exact cause of the issue."
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 21, 2019

Classification
Incident

Flight number
BA-212

Aircraft Registration
G-CIVO

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

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!

Are you a subscriber? Login
Subscribe

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

Newest articles

Subscribe today

Are you researching aviation incidents? Get access to AeroInside Insights, unlimited read access and receive the daily newsletter.

Pick your plan and subscribe

Partner

Blockaviation logo

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

ELITE Logo

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.

Blue Altitude Logo

Your regulation partner, specialists in aviation safety and compliance; providing training, auditing, and consultancy services. Find out more.

AeroInside Blog
Popular aircraft
Airbus A320
Boeing 737-800
Boeing 737-800 MAX
Popular airlines
American Airlines
United
Delta
Air Canada
Lufthansa
British Airways