Mon, Aug 19 2002

Smoke in cabin forces Jumbo emergency landing

An international jumbo jet carrying 412 passengers landed safely at Winnipeg airport Friday night after the pilot reported a spilled drink had shorted out part of the electrical system, filling a portion of the plane with smoke.

The pilot of Virgin Atlantic Airlines Flight 02, en route from San Francisco to London, radioed in his initial distress call shortly after 9:30 p.m. CDT.

He said there was smoke in the passenger cabin of the Boeing 747 and that he was dumping fuel south of Winnipeg.

At 9:43 p.m., the pilot radioed that smoke in the cabin was decreasing, and that he would be able to land the plane at 9:56 p.m.

Shortly afterward, he reported it appeared a passenger had spilled a drink and shorted out the aircraft's entertainment system.

At least a dozen emergency vehicles with lights flashing waited at the side of the runway.

The jet landed without incident shortly after 10 p.m. and was guided to the terminal, followed by three airport fire trucks.

The passengers were not required to disembark from the plane.

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Sloppy Passenger Causes Emergency Jumbo Landing

A Virgin Atlantic jet landed in Winnipeg, Saturday, after an apparent electrical short caused smoke to appear in the cabin. The Virgin Atlantic 747 was carrying 412 passengers from San Francisco to London, when it diverted after the flight crew reported that a drink spilled by a passenger had caused a short in a portion of the electrical system and filled a part of the cabin with smoke.

Dumping fuel south of Winnipeg, the crew radioed in a request for assistance at 0030 (GMT), followed by a landing at 0100. The smoke did decrease somewhat after the initial report and an uneventful landing followed. The electrical problem appeared to have originated in the aircraft's entertainment system (also thought to be the source of a tragic in-flight fire that caused the loss of an entire DC-10 not too long ago... so the urgency seemed quite apropos).

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Full=1

"The electrical problem appeared to have originated in the aircraft's entertainment system (also thought to be the source of a tragic in-flight fire that caused the loss of an entire DC-10 not too long ago... so the urgency seemed quite apropos)."

Thanks Christopher. I wonder if they meant a MD-11 or was there really a DC-10 incident involving an entertainment system?

Update on this Smoke in the Cabin:

The relief pilot examined the equipment and removed power from the IFE after which time the smoke subsided.

Following this smoke event company flight operations were contacted by the crew via datalink and informed about the situation regarding the IFE. The crew was advised to re-power the IFE system which is exactly what they did. As a result of this smoke/fumes once again poured into the cabin. Can you believe that? Guess they were more concerned that the passengers were entertained than safe. Let's deregulate this industry because we can certainly trust them to do the right thing. Unbelievable. The passengers on that flight were lucky that the crew was able to disable this particular IFE. Unfortunately the sr111 passengers weren't so lucky. Four years later and it is still shocking...

Anyone know who made/installed this entertainment system?