McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83 N944AS

Summary

On 21 August 2006 at about 01:09 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83 registered N944AS, operated by Alaska Airlines, Inc., was involved in an incident near Long Beach, California, United States. 145 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 August 2006 at 01:09

Classification

Incident

Location

Long Beach, California, United States

Nearest airport

Long Beach/Daugherty Field/ (LGB)

Coordinates

33.8183, -118.1528

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83

Registration

N944AS

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Alaska Airlines, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Seattle → Long Beach

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06IA301

Nobody was injured.

The over wing heater blanket wiring installation that had chaffed and arced, which produced an electrical smell in the cabin area.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While taxiing to parking following a normal landing, the cabin crew notified the flight crew that an electrical smelling smoke was engulfing the cabin area. The flight crew simultaneously heard circuit breakers popping and cabin chimes sounding. The flight crew decided that at an immediate evacuation was necessary, and stopped the airplane. The order was given to the cabin crew to deploy the emergency slides and evacuate the passengers. All emergency slides were deployed; there were no injuries incurred during the evacuation. Maintenance personnel noted minor damage to the airplane as a result of a chaffed wire bundle in the mid-cargo pit ceiling at station 750 that had arced and produced smoke in the cabin area. The area was identified as a Boeing-designed and retrofitted over wing heater wiring installation. Engineers for the operator and manufacturer of the airplane determined that arcing was likely due to the left and right over wing heater blanket wiring, that contacted the edge of the wire bundle bracket that attached to the second inboard lighting hole at station 750 in the mid-cargo pit ceiling on the left side. They also determined that the vibration through normal airplane operation allowed the bracket to cut through the wire insulation and then contact was made to the wire conductor and arcing occurred. The operator inspected their entire fleet of affected airplanes and noted one other wire bundle discrepancy. The manufacturer of the airplane identified one other operator with a similar configuration. A service bulletin was issued identifying the problem and provided instructions on adjusting the wire bundles in order to prevent future occurrences.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.