Air Canada Flight 797
Encyclopedia
Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Dallas/Fort Worth
-Toronto
-Montreal
route. On 2 June 1983, the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that knocked out most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to an alternate landing field. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, the heat of the fire and fresh oxygen from the open exit doors created flashover
conditions, and the plane's interior quickly became completely engulfed in flames, killing 23 passengers who were yet to evacuate the aircraft.
As a result of this accident, many regulations were implemented around the world to make airplanes safer, including the installation of smoke detector
s, emergency lighting leading to exit doors and increased fire fighting training and equipment for crew members.
; it was to make a stop at Toronto International Airport (now Toronto Pearson International Airport
) in Mississauga, Ontario
, ultimately bound for Dorval Airport (now Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
) in Dorval, Quebec
.
Donald Cameron was the captain and Claude Ouimet served as first officer. While flying over Louisville, Kentucky
, an in-flight fire began in or around the rear lavatory of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32. The pilots heard a popping sound around 18:51, during dinner service, and discovered that the lavatory's circuit breaker
s had tripped. It was not uncommon, however, for an airplane's lavatory circuits to pop occasionally, a problem often preceded by the common aftermath of passengers completing their in-flight meals, so Cameron waited around eight minutes to give the tripped circuits time to cool down before attempting to reactivate them at 18:59.
A strong, noxious odor coming from the rear of the plane was first reported to the cabin crew around 19:00. Flight attendant Judi Davidson traced the odor to the lavatory. She attempted to look into the lavatory but was forced back by thick grey smoke rapidly filling the small room; she then ordered the third ranking crew member to find Sergio Benetti, the chief cabin crew officer, and ask him to investigate. As Benetti sprayed the interior of the affected lavatory with a CO2 extinguisher, Davidson reported the fire to the captain while flight attendant Laura Kayama began urging the passengers on the sparsely populated flight to come away from the front and rear of the plane and sit closer together in a compact group around the over-wing exits. At no time did any of the cabin crew mention to either Cameron or Ouimet that they had not yet seen flames, and the one person who had managed to get a good look at the scene—Benetti—had not reported seeing anything resembling the traditional causes of airline fires in pre-smoking-ban days: Flames from a trash bin fire or the paper towel dispenser, both of which were commonly set ablaze by passengers who would smoke in the lavatories on long flights. However, around 19:04, Benetti reported that he thought the fire was probably out because of how much he had doused the lavatory and that "it's gonna be easing up soon". This came less than a minute after Ouimet had attempted to investigate the fire but had been driven back by the thick smoke, causing him to strongly recommend landing the plane.
Just three minutes later, however, at 19:07, passengers began smelling smoke in the cabin again, and just two minutes after that—19:09—the "Master Breaker" alarm went off in the cockpit, and electrical systems throughout the plane began to fail, including power for the elevator trim system. This made controlling the plane's descent extremely difficult and required a great amount of physical exertion from the pilot and first officer. In addition, the PA system failed, leaving the flight attendants unable to communicate efficiently with the passengers; nevertheless, attendants were able to instruct passengers sitting in the exit rows on how to open the doors, a practice that was not standard on commercial airline flights at the time.
At 19:20, Cameron and Ouimet made an extremely difficult emergency landing
at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, located in Boone County, Kentucky
across the Ohio River
from Cincinnati, Ohio
. During the evacuation, the overwing aircraft doors were opened, causing an influx of air that fueled the fire. Ouimet escaped through the co-pilot's emergency window shortly after the plane landed, but Cameron, who had expended a great deal of physical energy while trying to keep the plane under control, was unable to move due to exhaustion. Firefighters doused Cameron in firefighting foam through Ouimet's window, shocking him back to consciousness; Cameron was then able to open the pilot's emergency escape window and drop to the ground, where he was dragged to safety by Ouimet. Cameron was the last person to make it out of the plane alive. Less than 90 seconds after touchdown, the interior of the plane flashed over and ignited, killing 23 of the 41 passengers. The passengers trapped inside the plane died from smoke inhalation
and burns from the flash fire
. Dianne Fadley, a survivor, stated in an interview for an episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday
about the incident entitled "Fire Flight" that "it was almost like anybody who got out had nothing wrong"; of the eighteen surviving passengers, three received serious injuries, thirteen received minor injuries, and two were uninjured, while none of the five crew members sustained any injuries. "You made it and you were completely fine," Fadley concluded, "or you didn't make it."
Twenty-one Canadians and two Americans died. Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Almost all of the victims were in the forward half of the aircraft between the wings and the cockpit. Some bodies were in the aisles, and some bodies were still in the seats. Two victims were in the back of the aircraft, even though the passengers were moved forward after the fire had been detected; the disoriented passengers moved beyond the overwing exits and succumbed. The blood samples from the bodies revealed high levels of cyanide
, fluoride
, and carbon monoxide
, chemicals produced by the burning plane.
(CVR) and flight data recorder
(FDR) for flight 797 were still in good condition and produced vital useful data for the subsequent National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) investigation. On the CVR, NTSB investigators heard eight sounds of electrical arcing—likely inaudible to the crew—beginning at 18:48 CDT. Three minutes later, at 18:51, the popping sounds that Cameron and Ouimet would later identify as the left toilet circuit breaker tripping are audible on the CVR; Cameron attempts to reset the circuits twice over the next 60 seconds, but the CVR records the breakers immediately popping again after each reset attempt. Cameron would attempt once more to reset the breakers at 18:59, but the CVR records arcing sounds followed by the popping sound of the breakers continuing to trip again after each reset over the next 60 seconds. At 19:02, the CVR records Flight Attendant Judi Davidson entering the cockpit to deliver the first report of a possible fire in the lavatory. Though a number of wires in the lavatory section were later found with insulation stripped away, NTSB investigators were unable to determine whether this insulation damage was the cause of the fire or was caused by the fire.
This particular DC-9 had experienced a number of problems over the months leading up to the incident; 76 maintenance reports had been filed in the plane's logs in the previous year, and the CVR records Cameron telling Ouimet to "put [the tripping breakers] in the book there" when the breakers fail to respond to the first reset attempt at 18:52. Nearly four years earlier, on September 17, 1979, the plane, then serving as Air Canada Flight 680 (Boston, Massachusetts to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia), had suffered an explosive decompression
in the rear bulkhead that required rebuilding the tail section and replacing or splicing most of the wiring and hydraulic lines in the back of the plane; Cameron noted in an interview for the "Fire Flight" episode of Mayday that the Air Canada maintenance crew "did a heck of a job getting everything put back together" after the decompression incident. Investigators were unable to find signs of arcing in any of the wire splices from the repairs done four years earlier, though much of the wiring in the rear of the plane was severely damaged or destroyed by the fire itself.
Despite finding neither the specific wires that caused the short circuit (the usual cause of arcing sounds and the likely cause of the breaker trips) nor the origin point of the fire that later consumed the plane, investigators determined that a short circuit likely sparked and ignited surrounding materials (such as insulation blankets) that sustained and propagated a fire that burned behind the wall of the lavatory, with the plane's outer skin serving as a conduit for smoke to seep in through the seams in the interior panels and collect near the apex of the cabin.
Although it is customary for airlines to retire a flight number after a major incident, Air Canada still uses Flight 797 on its Montréal-Los Angeles route, flown using an Airbus A319.
(FAA), including:
Pilots and airline personnel throughout the industry petitioned the NTSB to revise its report. First Officer Claude Ouimet sent the NTSB a detailed defense of the crew's actions, including the decision to land in Cincinnati instead of Standiford Field Airport
in Louisville, Kentucky
, the airport closest to where the crew first notified Air Traffic Control in Indianapolis, Indiana
that they needed to make an emergency landing. Ouimet stated that Louisville was too close to be able to descend from cruising altitude to an emergency landing safely, and even landing in Cincinnati was a questionable proposition given Cameron's difficulties in controlling the plane. After reviewing Ouimet's missive and re-evaluating the available data, the NTSB issued a revised version of the report which included Ouimet's explanation of the landing decision, though the report was still critical of Cameron's decision not to inquire about the fire itself. In an interview for the "Fire Flight" episode of Mayday, Cameron said of his actions that day, "All I know was that I did the best I could."
The crew of Flight 797 later received a number of citations from Canadian aviation organizations for their heroic actions in getting the plane down safely.
. On , that aircraft, operating as Ozark Air Lines Flight 650
, hit a snow plow in Sioux Falls
, killing the snow plow operator and separating the right wing from the aircraft. A wing from C-FTLU was used to replace the one separated on N994Z after the incident. The aircraft was later sold to Republic Airlines
, and acquired by Northwest Airlines
after Republic merged with Northwest. , N994Z is assigned to Delta Air Lines
, which now owns Northwest Airlines.
(known as "Fiery Landing" of Air Emergency in the USA, Air Crash Investigation in the UK and Australia) portrays the disaster.
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
-Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
route. On 2 June 1983, the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that knocked out most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to an alternate landing field. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, the heat of the fire and fresh oxygen from the open exit doors created flashover
Flashover
A flashover is the near simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases...
conditions, and the plane's interior quickly became completely engulfed in flames, killing 23 passengers who were yet to evacuate the aircraft.
As a result of this accident, many regulations were implemented around the world to make airplanes safer, including the installation of smoke detector
Smoke detector
A smoke detector is a device that detects smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system, while household detectors, known as smoke alarms, generally issue a local audible and/or visual alarm from the detector...
s, emergency lighting leading to exit doors and increased fire fighting training and equipment for crew members.
Details
At 16:20 CDT (21:20 UTC) on 2 June 1983, the Air Canada aircraft registered C-FTLU took off from Dallas-Fort Worth International AirportDallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, and is the busiest airport in the U.S. state of Texas...
; it was to make a stop at Toronto International Airport (now Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
) in Mississauga, Ontario
Mississauga, Ontario
Mississauga is a city in Southern Ontario located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, and in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. With an estimated population of 734,000, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades...
, ultimately bound for Dorval Airport (now Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located on the Island of Montreal, from Montreal's downtown core. The airport terminals are located entirely in Dorval, while the Air Canada headquarters complex...
) in Dorval, Quebec
Dorval, Quebec
Dorval is a city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the population increased by 2.2% to 18,088. Although the city has the largest surface area in the West Island, it is among the least densely populated...
.
Donald Cameron was the captain and Claude Ouimet served as first officer. While flying over Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, an in-flight fire began in or around the rear lavatory of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32. The pilots heard a popping sound around 18:51, during dinner service, and discovered that the lavatory's circuit breaker
Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow...
s had tripped. It was not uncommon, however, for an airplane's lavatory circuits to pop occasionally, a problem often preceded by the common aftermath of passengers completing their in-flight meals, so Cameron waited around eight minutes to give the tripped circuits time to cool down before attempting to reactivate them at 18:59.
A strong, noxious odor coming from the rear of the plane was first reported to the cabin crew around 19:00. Flight attendant Judi Davidson traced the odor to the lavatory. She attempted to look into the lavatory but was forced back by thick grey smoke rapidly filling the small room; she then ordered the third ranking crew member to find Sergio Benetti, the chief cabin crew officer, and ask him to investigate. As Benetti sprayed the interior of the affected lavatory with a CO2 extinguisher, Davidson reported the fire to the captain while flight attendant Laura Kayama began urging the passengers on the sparsely populated flight to come away from the front and rear of the plane and sit closer together in a compact group around the over-wing exits. At no time did any of the cabin crew mention to either Cameron or Ouimet that they had not yet seen flames, and the one person who had managed to get a good look at the scene—Benetti—had not reported seeing anything resembling the traditional causes of airline fires in pre-smoking-ban days: Flames from a trash bin fire or the paper towel dispenser, both of which were commonly set ablaze by passengers who would smoke in the lavatories on long flights. However, around 19:04, Benetti reported that he thought the fire was probably out because of how much he had doused the lavatory and that "it's gonna be easing up soon". This came less than a minute after Ouimet had attempted to investigate the fire but had been driven back by the thick smoke, causing him to strongly recommend landing the plane.
Just three minutes later, however, at 19:07, passengers began smelling smoke in the cabin again, and just two minutes after that—19:09—the "Master Breaker" alarm went off in the cockpit, and electrical systems throughout the plane began to fail, including power for the elevator trim system. This made controlling the plane's descent extremely difficult and required a great amount of physical exertion from the pilot and first officer. In addition, the PA system failed, leaving the flight attendants unable to communicate efficiently with the passengers; nevertheless, attendants were able to instruct passengers sitting in the exit rows on how to open the doors, a practice that was not standard on commercial airline flights at the time.
At 19:20, Cameron and Ouimet made an extremely difficult emergency landing
Emergency landing
An emergency landing is a landing made by an aircraft in response to a crisis which either interferes with the operation of the aircraft or involves sudden medical emergencies necessitating diversion to the nearest airport.-Types of emergency landings:...
at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, located in Boone County, Kentucky
Boone County, Kentucky
Boone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1798. The population was 118,811 in the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Burlington. The county is named for frontiersman Daniel Boone...
across the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
from Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. During the evacuation, the overwing aircraft doors were opened, causing an influx of air that fueled the fire. Ouimet escaped through the co-pilot's emergency window shortly after the plane landed, but Cameron, who had expended a great deal of physical energy while trying to keep the plane under control, was unable to move due to exhaustion. Firefighters doused Cameron in firefighting foam through Ouimet's window, shocking him back to consciousness; Cameron was then able to open the pilot's emergency escape window and drop to the ground, where he was dragged to safety by Ouimet. Cameron was the last person to make it out of the plane alive. Less than 90 seconds after touchdown, the interior of the plane flashed over and ignited, killing 23 of the 41 passengers. The passengers trapped inside the plane died from smoke inhalation
Smoke inhalation
Smoke inhalation is the primary cause of death in victims of indoor fires.Smoke inhalation injury refers to injury due to inhalation or exposure to hot gaseous products of combustion. This can cause serious respiratory complications....
and burns from the flash fire
Flash fire
A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid , flammable or combustible liquid , or a flammable gas...
. Dianne Fadley, a survivor, stated in an interview for an episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday
Mayday (TV series)
Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters...
about the incident entitled "Fire Flight" that "it was almost like anybody who got out had nothing wrong"; of the eighteen surviving passengers, three received serious injuries, thirteen received minor injuries, and two were uninjured, while none of the five crew members sustained any injuries. "You made it and you were completely fine," Fadley concluded, "or you didn't make it."
Twenty-one Canadians and two Americans died. Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Almost all of the victims were in the forward half of the aircraft between the wings and the cockpit. Some bodies were in the aisles, and some bodies were still in the seats. Two victims were in the back of the aircraft, even though the passengers were moved forward after the fire had been detected; the disoriented passengers moved beyond the overwing exits and succumbed. The blood samples from the bodies revealed high levels of cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
, fluoride
Fluoride
Fluoride is the anion F−, the reduced form of fluorine when as an ion and when bonded to another element. Both organofluorine compounds and inorganic fluorine containing compounds are called fluorides. Fluoride, like other halides, is a monovalent ion . Its compounds often have properties that are...
, and carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
, chemicals produced by the burning plane.
NTSB investigation
Though the fuselage was nearly destroyed by the intensity of the fire, the cockpit voice recorderCockpit voice recorder
A cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
(CVR) and flight data recorder
Flight data recorder
A flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
(FDR) for flight 797 were still in good condition and produced vital useful data for the subsequent National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) investigation. On the CVR, NTSB investigators heard eight sounds of electrical arcing—likely inaudible to the crew—beginning at 18:48 CDT. Three minutes later, at 18:51, the popping sounds that Cameron and Ouimet would later identify as the left toilet circuit breaker tripping are audible on the CVR; Cameron attempts to reset the circuits twice over the next 60 seconds, but the CVR records the breakers immediately popping again after each reset attempt. Cameron would attempt once more to reset the breakers at 18:59, but the CVR records arcing sounds followed by the popping sound of the breakers continuing to trip again after each reset over the next 60 seconds. At 19:02, the CVR records Flight Attendant Judi Davidson entering the cockpit to deliver the first report of a possible fire in the lavatory. Though a number of wires in the lavatory section were later found with insulation stripped away, NTSB investigators were unable to determine whether this insulation damage was the cause of the fire or was caused by the fire.
This particular DC-9 had experienced a number of problems over the months leading up to the incident; 76 maintenance reports had been filed in the plane's logs in the previous year, and the CVR records Cameron telling Ouimet to "put [the tripping breakers] in the book there" when the breakers fail to respond to the first reset attempt at 18:52. Nearly four years earlier, on September 17, 1979, the plane, then serving as Air Canada Flight 680 (Boston, Massachusetts to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia), had suffered an explosive decompression
Explosive decompression
Uncontrolled decompression refers to an unplanned drop in the pressure of a sealed system, such as an aircraft cabin and typically results from human error, material fatigue, engineering failure or impact causing a pressure vessel to vent into its lower-pressure surroundings or fail to pressurize...
in the rear bulkhead that required rebuilding the tail section and replacing or splicing most of the wiring and hydraulic lines in the back of the plane; Cameron noted in an interview for the "Fire Flight" episode of Mayday that the Air Canada maintenance crew "did a heck of a job getting everything put back together" after the decompression incident. Investigators were unable to find signs of arcing in any of the wire splices from the repairs done four years earlier, though much of the wiring in the rear of the plane was severely damaged or destroyed by the fire itself.
Despite finding neither the specific wires that caused the short circuit (the usual cause of arcing sounds and the likely cause of the breaker trips) nor the origin point of the fire that later consumed the plane, investigators determined that a short circuit likely sparked and ignited surrounding materials (such as insulation blankets) that sustained and propagated a fire that burned behind the wall of the lavatory, with the plane's outer skin serving as a conduit for smoke to seep in through the seams in the interior panels and collect near the apex of the cabin.
Notable passengers
- Stan RogersStan RogersStanley Allison "Stan" Rogers was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter.Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his finely crafted, traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and the daily lives of working people, especially those from the fishing...
was a Canadian folk singerFolk SingerFolk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
, known for songs like "Northwest PassageNorthwest Passage (song)"Northwest Passage" is one of the best-known songs by Canadian musician Stan Rogers. An a cappella song, it features Rogers alone singing the verses, with several guest vocalists harmonizing with him in the chorus...
", "The Mary Ellen CarterThe Mary Ellen CarterThe Mary Ellen Carter is a song written and recorded by Stan Rogers, intended as an inspirational hymn about triumphing over great odds. It tells the story of a heroic effort to salvage a sunken ship, the Mary Ellen Carter, by members of her former crew...
", "Song of the Candle", and "Barrett's PrivateersBarrett's Privateers"Barrett's Privateers" is a folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario...
". He was going home on Flight 797 after attending the Kerrville Folk FestivalKerrville Folk FestivalThe Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired...
in Texas. He died in the fire at the age of 33. - Also on board was George Curtis Mathes Jr.Curtis Mathes CorporationCurtis Mathes Corporation is a North American electronics retailer based in Garland, Texas specializing in the sale of private label brand electronics and repair services...
, founder of the electronics company that bears his name. He died in the fire.
Aftermath
, this 1983 accident is Air Canada's most recent fatal accident.Although it is customary for airlines to retire a flight number after a major incident, Air Canada still uses Flight 797 on its Montréal-Los Angeles route, flown using an Airbus A319.
Safety recommendations
As a result of this accident and other incidents of in-flight fires on passenger aircraft, the NTSB issued several recommendations to the Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
(FAA), including:
- Safety Recommendation A-83-70, which asked the FAA to expedite actions to require smoke detectors in lavatories;
- Safety Recommendation A-83-71, which asked the FAA to require the installation of automatic fire extinguishers adjacent to and in lavatory waste receptacles;
- Strong recommendation that all U.S.-based air carriers review their fire training and evaluation procedures; procedures were to be shortened and focused on taking "aggressive actions" to determine the source and severity of suspected cabin fires while finding the shortest and safest possible emergency descents, including landing or ditching;
- Strong suggestion that passenger instruction in how to open emergency exits become standard practice within the airline industry.
- Strong recommendation for expedited FAA rule changes mandating that all U.S.-based air carriers install (or improve existing) in-cabin fire safety enhancements, including (but not limited to):
- Fire-blocking seat materials to limit both the spread of fire and the generation of toxic chemicals through ignition;
- Emergency track lighting at or near the floor, strong enough to cut through heavy fuel fire smoke;
- Raised markings on overhead bins indicating the location of exit rows to aid passengers in locating these rows in case of passenger visual impairment (either pre-existing or caused by emergency conditions);
- Hand-held fire extinguishers using advanced technology extinguishing agents such as Halon.
Criticism and controversy
Newspapers and other media criticized the actions taken by the crew and said that the pilots took too long to initiate an emergency descent; the initial NTSB report was especially critical of Cameron for not asking about the exact nature of the fire and not immediately initiating emergency descent when the fire was first reported. Cameron admitted in a press conference following the issuance of the NTSB report that he assumed the problem was a bin fire, a common cause of lavatory fires when smoking was still allowed on flights.Pilots and airline personnel throughout the industry petitioned the NTSB to revise its report. First Officer Claude Ouimet sent the NTSB a detailed defense of the crew's actions, including the decision to land in Cincinnati instead of Standiford Field Airport
Louisville International Airport
Louisville International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport centrally located in the city of Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA. The airport covers 1,200 acres and has three runways. Its IATA airport code SDF is based on the airport's former name, Standiford Field...
in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, the airport closest to where the crew first notified Air Traffic Control in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
that they needed to make an emergency landing. Ouimet stated that Louisville was too close to be able to descend from cruising altitude to an emergency landing safely, and even landing in Cincinnati was a questionable proposition given Cameron's difficulties in controlling the plane. After reviewing Ouimet's missive and re-evaluating the available data, the NTSB issued a revised version of the report which included Ouimet's explanation of the landing decision, though the report was still critical of Cameron's decision not to inquire about the fire itself. In an interview for the "Fire Flight" episode of Mayday, Cameron said of his actions that day, "All I know was that I did the best I could."
The crew of Flight 797 later received a number of citations from Canadian aviation organizations for their heroic actions in getting the plane down safely.
C-FTLU and N994Z
After this incident, Air Canada sold another of their DC-9 aircraft (tail number N994Z) to Ozark Air LinesOzark Air Lines
Ozark Air Lines was a commercial airline that operated in the United States from 1950 until 1986, when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines. A second, smaller airline by that same name operated in 2000-2001. Ozark, from 1950 until 1986, had its headquarters on the grounds of Lambert-St. Louis...
. On , that aircraft, operating as Ozark Air Lines Flight 650
Ozark Air Lines Flight 650
Ozark Air Lines Flight 650 was a regularly scheduled flight between Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls Regional Airport in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While landing on runway 3 in a snow storm on December 20, 1983, it struck a snow plow on the runway. The impact ripped the...
, hit a snow plow in Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls Regional Airport
Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a joint civil and military use airport located three nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Sioux Falls, a city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States...
, killing the snow plow operator and separating the right wing from the aircraft. A wing from C-FTLU was used to replace the one separated on N994Z after the incident. The aircraft was later sold to Republic Airlines
Republic Airlines
Republic Airline, Inc., operating as Republic Airlines is a regional airline subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings that operates service as Frontier Airlines, Midwest Airlines and US Airways Express using a fleet of Bombardier Q400, Embraer 170, Embraer 175 and Embraer 190 aircraft...
, and acquired by Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
after Republic merged with Northwest. , N994Z is assigned to Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
, which now owns Northwest Airlines.
Dramatization
The episode "Fire Flight" of MaydayMayday (TV series)
Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters...
(known as "Fiery Landing" of Air Emergency in the USA, Air Crash Investigation in the UK and Australia) portrays the disaster.
See also
- British Airtours Flight 28MBritish Airtours Flight 28MBritish Airtours Flight 28M was an international passenger flight on 22 August 1985 which originated from Manchester International Airport's Runway 24 in Manchester, England en-route to Corfu International Airport on the Greek island of Corfu. The aircraft, previously named "Goldfinch" but at the...
- China Airlines Flight 120China Airlines Flight 120China Airlines Flight 120 was a regularly scheduled flight from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan County, Taiwan to Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan. On August 20, 2007, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating the flight caught fire and exploded after landing and taxiing to the gate area...
- Swissair 111
- Asiana Airlines Flight 991Asiana Airlines Flight 991Asiana Airlines Flight 991 was a scheduled Asiana Airlines cargo flight between Incheon International Airport, South Korea and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China...