MCTFlyer From United States of America, joined Nov 2012, 1 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Airbus A330-323X US701 from FRA to PHL 11/7/2012 (N276AY) Emergency Landing - Over 1 hour into the flight the plane turned back making an Emergency Landing at Frankfurt.
A source at the airport said "the plane turned back in time because there was potential for a fire...".
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2745 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Interesting.... We flew a DL A333 ATL-HNL in March of this year. About 20 min after takeoff, we began to smell an odd odor that got stronger. Soon, the plane leveled off well below cruise altitude and the FAs began walking swiftly thru the cabin, were on the intercom with the cockpit frequently and the lead FA got a fire extinguisher from an overhead compartment. After about another 20 min, the plane continued its climb and we continued on to HNL.
We later found out from the head FA (my partner is Diamond with Skymiles) that the oven warming the nuts for cocktail service in FC "arced" and they very nearly declared an emergency & returned to ATL. Of course I can't say these two occurrences were related, but the similarities are interesting nonetheless!
BTW - they served the burned nuts anyway (horribly nasty!!) with a delayed cocktail & meal service.
BoeingGuy From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 2285 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Quoting MCTFlyer (Thread starter): A source at the airport said "the plane turned back in time because there was potential for a fire...".
According to the industry standard, if you have unidentified Smoke, Fire or Fumes on board and you cannot VISUALLY confirm it's out (not like you sort of think maybe it doesn't smell as strong) you land at the nearest suitable airport PERIOD. That doesn't mean return to your maintenance base, or a place with nice hotel, but the nearest piece of concrete in which you can safely land.
So if in fact, they did have a potential for fire on board, they should have landed somewhere much closer than turning back one hour to FRA. For example, SW111 and AC797 had minutes before the airplane became unsurvivable.
Hopefully the airport spokesperson's comment is inaccurate.
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2745 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Interesting.... We flew a DL A333 ATL-HNL in March of this year. About 20 min after takeoff, we began to smell an odd odor that got stronger. Soon, the plane leveled off well below cruise altitude and the FAs began walking swiftly thru the cabin, were on the intercom with the cockpit frequently and the lead FA got a fire extinguisher from an overhead compartment. After about another 20 min, the plane continued its climb and we continued on to HNL.
We later found out from the head FA (my partner is Diamond with Skymiles) that the oven warming the nuts for cocktail service in FC "arced" and they very nearly declared an emergency & returned to ATL. Of course I can't say these two occurrences were related, but the similarities are interesting nonetheless!
BTW - they served the burned nuts anyway (horribly nasty!!) with a delayed cocktail & meal service.
BoeingGuy From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 2285 posts, RR: 7 Reply 5, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Quoting GSPSPOT (Reply 4): We later found out from the head FA (my partner is Diamond with Skymiles) that the oven warming the nuts for cocktail service in FC "arced" and they very nearly declared an emergency & returned to ATL. Of course I can't say these two occurrences were related, but the similarities are interesting nonetheless!
So they key point is that they apparently visually identified the source of the smell and visually confirmed it was out. In the Boeing procedure if you visually confirm the source of the Smoke/Fire/Fumes is out then the flight can continue at the Captain's discretion. In your example they were only 20 minutes out of ATL, so that likely was the nearest suitable airport at that point.
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2745 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (6 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Quoting BoeingGuy (Reply 5): In your example they were only 20 minutes out of ATL, so that likely was the nearest suitable airport at that point.
Oh indeed.... It was just startling how similar the OPs description sounded to the situation on our flight on the same type a/c (but different airline) earlier this year!
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From United States of America, joined Nov 2012, 1 posts, 
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