UA 922 12/28/05: Smoke in the cabin, half way over the pond!
Jan 11, 2006, 9:18 am
#1
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UA 922 12/28/05: Smoke in the cabin, half way over the pond!
I was flying 922 (the daylight IAD-LHR flight) on the 28th of last month. Nice flight for the first half, particularly since I was up in F. 
Quite suddenly the C cabin starts to fill with black, sooty smoke. We are half way over the Atlantic at this stage. 
The smoke is coming from the consol between 5 C and D, and the pax in those seats are up in the aisle. The purser walks quickly down from the front, checks out the situation, then goes quickly back up to the front, and announces over the PA that he is killing the power to all the seats. An FA appears with a fire extinguisher. They pry open the consol with a screwdriver, and seem not to see any flames, since the extinguisher is not used. They duct tape (shades of Apollo 13) the consol back together, and turn the power on to the rest of the seats, and all is well. The smoke cleared in 10 minutes.
Friggin' scary for my last UA flight of 2005. I made 110 segments and 205,000 BIS miles in 2005, and that last flight had me freaked for a while. Thank god for gin and tonic.
Of course it's now 2006, and I've done ATH, DUB, LHR and back to BOS since then, but still....
Quite suddenly the C cabin starts to fill with black, sooty smoke. We are half way over the Atlantic at this stage. The smoke is coming from the consol between 5 C and D, and the pax in those seats are up in the aisle. The purser walks quickly down from the front, checks out the situation, then goes quickly back up to the front, and announces over the PA that he is killing the power to all the seats. An FA appears with a fire extinguisher. They pry open the consol with a screwdriver, and seem not to see any flames, since the extinguisher is not used. They duct tape (shades of Apollo 13) the consol back together, and turn the power on to the rest of the seats, and all is well. The smoke cleared in 10 minutes.
Friggin' scary for my last UA flight of 2005. I made 110 segments and 205,000 BIS miles in 2005, and that last flight had me freaked for a while. Thank god for gin and tonic.
Of course it's now 2006, and I've done ATH, DUB, LHR and back to BOS since then, but still....
Last edited by Dub; Jan 11, 2006 at 9:21 am
Jan 11, 2006, 9:21 am
#2
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Wow, that would be scary. Fire in airplanes: not good.
What did the 5CD people do when the smoke disappeared? Were they moved?
What did the 5CD people do when the smoke disappeared? Were they moved?
Jan 11, 2006, 9:23 am
#3
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Originally Posted by qasr
Wow, that would be scary. Fire in airplanes: not good.
What did the 5CD people do when the smoke disappeared? Were they moved?
What did the 5CD people do when the smoke disappeared? Were they moved?
Jan 11, 2006, 9:27 am
#4
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Glad to hear that you are back home safely.
Smoke (and fire) in flight are definitely scary. The situation could quickly escalate into an emergency. Swissair flight 111 came to mind...
Have anyone on FT used the EVAC-U8 smoke hood? I was in the midst of updating our home emergency prepareness kit and thought about buying the EVAC-U8. Perhaps I should add one to our carry-on or rollaboards.
Smoke (and fire) in flight are definitely scary. The situation could quickly escalate into an emergency. Swissair flight 111 came to mind...
Have anyone on FT used the EVAC-U8 smoke hood? I was in the midst of updating our home emergency prepareness kit and thought about buying the EVAC-U8. Perhaps I should add one to our carry-on or rollaboards.
Jan 11, 2006, 9:33 am
#5
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What sort of compensation can one expect when their seat catches on fire, inflight? 
Jan 11, 2006, 9:42 am
#6
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More importantly, are UA pillows flame-retardant? 
Jan 11, 2006, 9:52 am
#7
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Originally Posted by as219
More importantly, are UA pillows flame-retardant?
Jan 11, 2006, 10:36 am
#8
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Originally Posted by Sneezy
Pour your milk on the flames.
Jan 11, 2006, 11:00 am
#9
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Originally Posted by qasr
I don't know why you think Mr Pillows would schlep back to 5CD and use his milk to do such a thing!
Jan 11, 2006, 11:06 am
#10
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Originally Posted by qasr
I don't know why you think Mr Pillows would schlep back to 5CD
Jan 11, 2006, 11:49 am
#11
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The smook hood won't make a difference if the plane catches fire.
Originally Posted by Jet2K
Glad to hear that you are back home safely.
Smoke (and fire) in flight are definitely scary. The situation could quickly escalate into an emergency. Swissair flight 111 came to mind...
Have anyone on FT used the EVAC-U8 smoke hood? I was in the midst of updating our home emergency prepareness kit and thought about buying the EVAC-U8. Perhaps I should add one to our carry-on or rollaboards.
Smoke (and fire) in flight are definitely scary. The situation could quickly escalate into an emergency. Swissair flight 111 came to mind...
Have anyone on FT used the EVAC-U8 smoke hood? I was in the midst of updating our home emergency prepareness kit and thought about buying the EVAC-U8. Perhaps I should add one to our carry-on or rollaboards.
Jan 11, 2006, 12:16 pm
#12
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Scary stuff, glad that it turned out to not be an issue. The Swissair flight certainly comes to mind.
Jan 11, 2006, 2:02 pm
#13
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Originally Posted by CApreppie
Scary stuff, glad that it turned out to not be an issue. The Swissair flight certainly comes to mind.
Jan 11, 2006, 3:58 pm
#14
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Here is another bizarre account of smoke on an airplane:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/iberia.htm
scroll down to the January 6 posting.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/iberia.htm
scroll down to the January 6 posting.
Jan 11, 2006, 4:03 pm
#15
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Perhaps they were warming the nuts.
