AA flight from San Juan to Philadelphia: Smoke in cockpit

[KSYR-pjr]

On Wednesday, January 30th at about 8:10pm Eastern Time, an American Airlines B767 flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico up to Philadelphia diverted to the Palm Beach, Florida, International airport due to smoke in the cockpit.

Philadelphia Inquirer article about the incident.

The actual flight log from FlightAware.com:



The clip is just under 3 minutes in length and picks up with a Delta pilot relaying ATC questions to the stricken AA aircraft.  After this exchange the next series is approach conversing with the pilot, who can be heard breathing with the aid of the oxygen mask.   The clip ends just after the aircraft landed.

Unfortunately there is some discontinuity in the clip due to the volume of competing communications on this feed.   Clip has been edited to remove extraneous communications.


edit:  Tagged the clip with LiveATC.net

[aviator_06]

Great Catch. I'm surprised we didnt see it on the national news.

[Greg01]

Peter, looks like it's a B757.

[KSYR-pjr]

Dang, Greg,  I need to hire you as a proof-reader.  That's the second bonehead typo you caught for me.  What do you charge per hour? 

[Greg01]

No problem. You're a good friend...for that, it's free! 

[Hollis]

Just my theory, but I suspect that it was not 'smoke' in the cockpit and cabin (as from a fire source, since none was reported later), but rather condensation due to the busted windshield and the resulting gradual drop in (cabin) air pressure.
I say that because that's exactly what happened to me once during a test flight when we punched out both engines at high altitude but somebody forgot to de-pressurize first. (Not me!). The cockpit suddenly was enveloped in a complete 'white-out'. A few 'hairy' seconds until the instrument panel reappeared, but no problem. A good laugh afterwards though!   

[cessna157]

That is true that the cabin will fog up upon depressurization, but this doesn't sound like a rapid decompression.  This truely does sound like smoke.  In a depressurization, normally the crew would come off of oxygen after the emerg descent.  Also they wouldn't need to speak with CFR upon arrival.  Does anyone have any news stories of such of this incident?

[kicia]

As a passenger on this flight, I can tell you that it was most definitely smoke - and it wasn't just in the cockpit.

According to Google today, the problem was a heater in the windshield that produced the smoke and also cracked the inner glass.

Let me tell you, the 90 minutes it took to get to Palm Beach were pretty endless since all we knew was that it was 1) smokey  2) the lights were out for a good chunk of it (complete with stewardesses running around with flashlights and fire extinguishers and 3) we were getting an awful lot of instruction about life rafts and water landings...

[athaker]

That's not the only one! 

Today, when I was stranded at ORD trying to get to HPN, the guy next to me was on his cell phone with 3 of his co-workers who emergency landed in Detroit due to smoke in the cockpit.  According to the pilot, the de-icing may have caused a short somewhere.  Unfortunately the only thing I know is that is was an AAL flight that diverted to Detroit, possibly left chicago and possibly aiming at the NY area.

[cessna157]

That's not the only one! 

Today, when I was stranded at ORD trying to get to HPN, the guy next to me was on his cell phone with 3 of his co-workers who emergency landed in Detroit due to smoke in the cockpit.  According to the pilot, the de-icing may have caused a short somewhere.  Unfortunately the only thing I know is that is was an AAL flight that diverted to Detroit, possibly left chicago and possibly aiming at the NY area.

While the root cause may have been true, that is more than likely not what caused the smoke.  I have no idea about what happened, but for glycol to get somewhere in a sealed airplane and cause a short is highly unlikely.  What does happen on occasion is the deicers spray glycol either in the engine or APU, depending on how the A/C was configured, and it spread itself into the bleed system.  Then when you take off, the outflow valves close and you pressurize and the glycol in the bleed manifold comes out as a very smelly smoke. 

[keithpilot]

Here is the NTSB write up and links to photos of the damage:

NTSB INVESTIGATING CAUSE OF SMOKE IN COCKPIT ON FLIGHT OVER ATLANTIC OCEAN

************************************************************

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident that occurred on January 30, 2008, in which an American Airlines B757-200, en route from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, diverted to West Palm Beach, Florida, and made an emergency landing after the cockpit filled with smoke.

Of the 139 passengers and 7 crewmembers, several were transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation.  All have since been released.  No other injuries were reported. 

According to reports from the crew, while at cruise altitude over the Atlantic Ocean, smoke began emanating from the window heating system connected to the first officer's windshield.  The crew donned oxygen masks and smoke goggles and diverted to Palm Beach International Airport.  During the descent to land, the inner pane of the first officer's windshield shattered.  The crew continued the descent and landed without further incident.

The digital flight data recorder (DFDR) was downloaded and sent to the NTSB laboratories in Washington.  The affected windshield, which remained in one piece, and the heating unit were removed from the aircraft and will undergo a detailed analysis.

While the cause of this particular incident is unknown and remains under investigation, the NTSB is aware of five events between 2004 and 2006 in which smoke, and in some cases fire, were reported to have originated from window heating systems in B-757 aircraft. 

Based on these incidents, in September 2007 the NTSB issued two Safety Recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) asking the agency to require the installation of redesigned window heating systems in all Boeing 747, 757, 767, and 777 series aircraft.  These Safety Recommendations have yet to be implemented by the FAA.

The Safety Recommendations are available at http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2007/A07_49_50.pdf

View of cracked windshield from inside flight deck http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2008/images/AA-757-cockpit.jpg

Heating unit on affected windshield
http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2008/images/AA-757-heater_block.jpg

[athaker]

wow that picture of the windshield is pretty crazy.