Airbus A300F4-605R N676FE

Summary

On 10 April 2003 at about 20:50 local time, a Airbus A300F4-605R registered N676FE, operated by Federal Express Corporation, was involved in an incident near Oakland, California, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 April 2003 at 20:50

Classification

Incident

Location

Oakland, California, United States

Nearest airport

Metropolitian Oakland INTL (OAK)

Coordinates

37.7244, -122.2233

Aircraft

Airbus A300F4-605R

Registration

N676FE

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Federal Express Corporation

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oakland → Denver

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX03IA137

Nobody was injured.

the failure of the 1R evacuation slide to inflate because the transport-locking pin had not been removed from the regulator during the slide's installation on the 1R door. The cause of the cabin/cockpit smoke was contamination of the air conditioning packs.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During climb out, the fight crew declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit and returned to the departure airport for a normal landing, after which the emergency evacuation slides failed to inflate. The flight crew said that they smelled an acrid smoke followed immediately by the illumination of the MAIN DECK CARGO FIRE light and the audio tone (bell). They conducted the emergency procedures, declared an emergency, and turned back for landing. On the downwind leg the MAIN DECK CARGO FIRE light went out; however, on final approach, the MID 2 LOOPS A and B illuminated. After landing the flight crew attempted to evacuate via the 1R emergency slide; however, it did not inflate. The first officer said that he was able to open the door, and that they made several unsuccessful attempts to manually inflate the slide without success. Post incident examination found that the slides' inflation bottle was fully pressurized. Two maintenance personnel noted that the transport-locking pin was with the slide when it was removed from the airplane. The slide was disassembled for inspection at the manufacturer's facility. No discrepancies were found that would have prevented the slide from inflating. Damage was found to the slide's girt bar in the area of the manual inflation handle that was consistent with the transport-locking pin being installed in the inflation bottle's regulator at the time of the slide's deployment. The cause of the smoke was determined to be oil or other fluid contamination of the air-condition packs.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.