Air Canada Flight 797
| Air Canada Flight 797 | |
|---|---|
 An identical Douglas DC-9 from Air Canada |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | fire |
| place |
 Cincinnati , Kentucky Airport
|
| date | June 2nd 1983 |
| Fatalities | 23 |
| Survivors | 23 |
| Injured | 16 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-9-32 |
| operator | Air Canada |
| Mark | C-FTLU |
| Departure airport |
Dallas / Fort Worth Airport
|
| Stopover |
 Toronto Pearson Airport
|
| Destination airport |
Montreal-Trudeau Airport
|
| Passengers | 41 |
| crew | 5 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled flight, which from Dallas / Fort Worth with a stopover in Toronto to Montreal led. On June 2, 1983, a fire broke out behind the toilets during the flight , spreading between the outer casing and the inner lining and filling the aircraft cabin with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also destroyed several electronic cables necessary for flight operations, which meant that instruments in the cockpit failed and the aircraft had to make an emergency landing. 90 seconds after the aircraft touched down and the doors were open, the heat from the fire and the oxygen entering the aircraft through the open door created so-called flashover conditions, causing the cabin to be engulfed in the fire. A total of 23 passengers who tried to get off the plane were killed in the flames.
Details
On June 2, 1983 at 16:20 CDT (21:20 UTC ), the Air Canada aircraft with the registration number C-FTLU took off from Dallas / Fort Worth Airport ; it was to stop in Toronto and then on to Montreal .
Donald Cameron, 51, was the captain and Claude Ouimet, 34, served as the first officer. Both were experienced pilots; Cameron had around 13,000 flight hours, Ouimet around 5,650. A fire broke out in or near the toilets over Louisville , Kentucky . The pilots heard a bang at around 6:51 p.m. while dinner was being served and discovered that the circuit breaker for the toilets had popped out. This was not uncommon with many passengers using the bathroom after dinner, and so Cameron waited about eight minutes to allow the switch to cool down before attempting to reactivate it at about 6:59 p.m., several times with another failure. The cockpit voice recorder, however, had already recorded several arc noises that were probably inaudible to the crew at 18:48.
At around 7 p.m., a strong, foul smelling odor was noticed in the back of the aircraft. 33-year-old flight attendant Judi Davidson found that the stench was coming from the toilet. When she opened the door to have a look, she met thick gray smoke. So she sent another crew member to fetch 37-year-old purser Sergio Benetti. Benetti sprayed fire extinguishers in the toilet. Meanwhile, Davidson informed the pilots and the 28-year-old flight attendant Laura Kayama began to move the passengers to seats near the emergency exits. At no time was it reported to the pilots that no flames had been sighted, which would have been the case with a fire in the garbage can. The first officer left the cockpit at 7:03 p.m. to check, but was unable to open the toilet door because of the smoke in the rear of the cabin. When he was back in the cockpit, he explained that it would be better to land. A stewardess reported to the captain that the smoke in the cabin had cleared again and she said that it would be better. While the first officer was in the rear of the aircraft one more time, this time wearing smoke goggles, numerous electrical systems failed. Due to the hot toilet door, the first officer instructed the flight attendants to keep the door closed before being waved back into the cockpit by one of the flight attendants. As soon as he was in the cockpit, electrical systems down to the artificial horizon failed . The voice recorder also stopped recording at this point. The radio systems were switched to battery operation, but the elevator trim remained inoperable for the rest of the flight and so it became quite difficult to control the landing approach of the aircraft. At 7:08 p.m., the pilots declared the emergency . Although the flight attendants were unable to communicate with the passengers over the loudspeakers, they managed to instruct the passengers how to open the doors.
At 7:20 p.m., the pilots made an emergency landing at Cincinnati Airport under the difficult conditions . The aircraft had to be guided by the ground penetrating radar because the pilots could not determine its course due to the failed instruments.
After the standstill, the doors were opened for evacuation, which caused the previously invisible fire to be kindled by the incoming oxygen. 23 of the 41 passengers were burned. 21 Canadian and two American citizens were killed in the accident, including the singer Stan Rogers . Numerous corpses were burned beyond recognition. After the pilots were unable to help the cabin crew, Ouimet left the aircraft through the emergency exit window on the copilot's side. Cameron was passed out, however. Firefighters managed to regain consciousness and the captain managed to open his own window and climb out of the plane. He was the last occupant to leave the plane alive.
Consequences of the accident
As a result of the disaster, global security regulations were improved. New smoke alarms were necessary in the toilets, and emergency lights that mark the way to the doors were installed. In addition, the crew is now better trained in fire fighting.
The crew was praised on the one hand for their flying skills and on the other hand criticized for their hesitation before initiating the descent.
additional
Since that accident in 1983, Air Canada has not had another fatal accident.
At the time of the accident, Air Canada had 41 other DC-9-32s in its fleet in addition to the crashed aircraft .
Flight number 797 was still used by Air Canada, now for flights between Montreal and Los Angeles.
Similar cases
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e NTSB report on Flight 797 crash ( Memento from October 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d "Fire Fight," Mayday
- ↑ Air Canada- Accident & incidents . Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved August 17, 2009.