7/8/02

An American Airlines boeing 777(200 series), reported smoke in the cockpit with a strong electrical smell. The plane was enroute from London Heathrow to Chicago. The pilot declared an emergency and requested diversion to North Bay. Approximately 10 minutes later while descending, the captain reported that the smoke had dissipated and made the decision to continue the flight onto Toronto. The aircraft was in the air for aproximately 1 hour from when the smoke first appeared in the cockpit.

The TSB's recommendiation (as a result of sr111- a terrible tragedy), seems to indicate that an aircraft should be landed asap once smoke is seen in an aircraft and troubleshooting to be done on the ground. 1 hour seems to go against this philosophy to bring a plane down right away. It can't be long until we have another terrible sr111 if pilots don't take a warning of smoke seriously.