A321, Valencia Spain, 2019

A321, Valencia Spain, 2019

Summary

On 5 August 2019, an Airbus A321 crew declared a MAYDAY immediately after clearing the landing runway at Valencia when a hold smoke warning was annunciated. An emergency evacuation was completed without injuries. This warning followed “white smoke” from the air conditioning system entering both the passenger cabin and flight deck in the four minutes before landing which had prompted the pilots to don oxygen masks. The Investigation found the white smoke was the direct consequence of an oil leak from the right engine as a result of the misalignment and breakage of a bearing and its associated hydraulic seal. 

Description

On 5 August 2019, an Airbus A321 (G-MEDN) being operated by British Airways on a scheduled international passenger flight from London Heathrow to Valencia as BA422 was en route in day VMC when two annunciations of minor malfunctions in the right engine occurred, one of which was transient and the other required no action. Subsequently, a few minutes before landing at the destination, white smoke of undetermined origin began entering the passenger cabin and flight deck and oxygen masks were donned. Immediately after clearing the runway, a MAYDAY was declared after several system warnings potentially linked to the smoke were annunciated. There were no externally visible signs of fire but an emergency evacuation of all 183 occupants was promptly completed without any injuries.       

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Incidents (CIAIAC). Relevant FDR and CVR information from the aircraft was available as a result of the flight crew electrically isolating them after the event. Relevant recorded ATC data were also available. 

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