Friday, March 22, 2013

Burning de-icing fluid blamed for smoke that forced Sunwing emergency landing

OTTAWA — An excessive amount of de-icing fluid  that burned off during takeoff is the reason why a Cuba-bound flight out of Ottawa with 170 passengers performed an emergency landing early Friday morning.

Sunwing Airlines confirmed there was no fire on Flight 326 that took off at 6:32 a.m. The Boeing 737-800 returned within 20 minutes after passengers saw what they thought was smoke filling the plane.

What they actually saw was vapor, said Daryl McWilliams, Sunwing vice president of media relations. But the fear on the plane was obvious, according to recollections from some passengers.

A flight attendant ran up the aisle with a fire extinguisher hunting for flames, but quickly realized the white cloud was coming from the air vents, said several people, who were just minutes into their flight to Varadero, Cuba.

One woman was hyperventilating and another man thought, just for a moment, that everyone on board would die. But the frightening moment passed as the pilot circled back and returned to the runway just before 7 a.m.

“For a minute, I thought that was it, this is how it’s going to all end,” said Marc St. Jacques, who was heading south for a week vacation.

In freezing conditions, aircraft are de-iced with an alcohol-based fluid that prevents the build of ice on the wings and control surfaces that can affect the handling of the aircraft.

“When aircraft got back to the gate there was quantities of this fluid still on the plane,” McWilliams said. “During takeoff that fluid vaporized.”

Shortly after takeoff, St. Jacques decided he would take a nap and maybe think of the warm weather that awaited him in Cuba.

“I put my head back and then I heard people yelling Fire! Fire! Fire!,” St. Jacques said. “I opened my eyes and I thought everyone was celebrating, like: ‘OK, we’re going to Cuba,’ but the smoke was everywhere.”

He described white smoke that had a sweet smell. Another passenger echoed his comments, saying the odor was similar to engine coolant.

The white cloud filled the plane five minutes after takeoff, said Pascale Senechal, who was heading to a resort in Varadero for a week.

“It wasn’t a smoke that made us cough or hurt our eyes,” she said.

Senechal was not worried during the emergency, largely because she assumed there was no fire. Plus, the oxygen masks were not deployed, giving her further assurance she would be all right. But not all passengers remained as calm.

“I could hear one woman behind me hyperventilating,” Senechal said.

Describing the landing, she said it felt a bit rushed as passengers flung forward quite hard as the plane contacted the runway. It was not a typical touch down, she said.

An airport fire crew greeted the plane, but no flames or smoke was visible from the ground. Ottawa Fire Services were called in to assist, but were quickly called off as no fire had been detected. Airport fire crews escorted the plane back to the terminal, where passengers were able to leave, said Krista Kealey, spokeswoman for Ottawa International Airport.

“We’ll debrief with everyone involved, just to see how everything went,” she explained.

Many passengers were happily standing in line at the Sunwing check-in station around 9 a.m. waiting for a second flight scheduled to take off at 12:30 p.m. The frightening experience will not ruin their vacations, St. Jacques said, looking down at his guitar case and suitcase.

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