FIRST UPDATE ON NTSB INVESTIGATION INTO UNITED AIRLINES RUNWAY EXCURSION INCIDENT IN NEW ORLEANS

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                       NTSB ADVISORY

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

 

April 7, 2011

 

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FIRST UPDATE ON NTSB INVESTIGATION INTO UNITED AIRLINES

RUNWAY EXCURSION INCIDENT IN NEW ORLEANS

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The National Transportation Safety Board continues to make

progress in its investigation of United Airlines flight 497,

which returned to the airport on April 4, 2011, in New

Orleans, shortly after take-off due to automated warnings of

smoke in the equipment bay. The airplane's nose wheel exited

the side of runway 19 upon completing the landing roll and

an emergency evacuation was conducted.

 

The NTSB team, comprised of 3 NTSB investigators and

representatives from the designated parties and advisors,

arrived on scene April 4 to document and examine the

aircraft and retrieve the data and voice recorders. Two

other NTSB investigators, specializing in operational

factors and maintenance factors, traveled to various

locations to review pertinent documentation and records and

conduct interviews.

 

After documenting the condition of the equipment in the

electronics bay, investigators applied limited electrical

power to various systems on the airplane. At this time, the

preliminary examination has not revealed any signs of

burning, indications of smoke or other anomalous system

findings.

 

The NTSB operations group completed interviews of the flight

crew yesterday. The crew indicated that, at about 4000 feet,

the airplane's electronic centralized aircraft monitoring

(ECAM) system provided an autothrottle-related message, then

an avionics smoke warning message, accompanied by

instructions to land. Despite receiving this message,

neither crew member recalled smelling smoke or fumes during

the flight.

 

The captain indicated that he used the electronic checklist

for the avionics system smoke warning indication, which

included shutting down some of the airplane's electrical

system. The crew reported that the first officer's display

screens went blank, the ECAM messages disappeared, the

cockpit to cabin intercom stopped functioning, and the air-

driven emergency generator deployed. The captain said that

he took control of the airplane at this point and managed

the radios while the first officer opened the cockpit door

to advise the flight attendants of the emergency and their

return to New Orleans airport.

 

The crew also noted to investigators that they requested

runway 10 for landing, but were told the runway was not

available due to the presence of construction vehicles. The

captain said that he was able to use the airspeed,

altimeter, and attitude information on his primary flight

display during the return to the airport, and that he

ordered an evacuation after landing.

 

As previously reported, the airplane's forward right slide

did not properly inflate during the emergency evacuation.

After examining the evacuation slides, investigators found

that the aspirator for the forward right-hand slide was

partially blocked. The aspirator component is the mechanism

for inflating the slide during an emergency evacuation.

Investigators have retained the slide for further

evaluation.

 

Preliminary reports provided to investigators suggest that

the flight attendants did not smell or see smoke in the

cabin, but observed the cabin lights turn off and the

intercom system cease to function during the flight.

Interviews of the cabin crew will be conducted after the

investigators complete their on-scene work to more

thoroughly document the cabin crew's observations and

communications throughout the flight and emergency

evacuation.

 

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder

(FDR) arrived at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C. on

April 5 and were successfully downloaded. The CVR is of good

quality and captured approximately 7 minutes and 30 seconds

of the incident flight. The FDR contained in excess of 25

hours of data and captured approximately 18 minutes of data

relevant to the incident flight. Both the CVR and FDR

stopped recording data prior to landing.

 

Investigators will remain on scene to complete their

evaluation of the airplane and documentation of other

factors in the incident.

 

# # #

 

Media contact:

Bridget Ann Serchak

202.314.6100

bridget.serchak@xxxxxxxx

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