DH8B, en route, southwest of Windsor Locks CT USA, 2015

DH8B, en route, southwest of Windsor Locks CT USA, 2015

Summary

On 5 June 2015, a DHC8-200 descending towards Bradley experienced an in-flight fire which originated at a windshield terminal block. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful with the electrical power still selected to the circuit. However, the fire eventually stopped and only smoke remained. An emergency evacuation was carried out after landing. The Investigation was unable to establish the way in which the malfunction that caused the fire arose but noted the continuing occurrence of similar events on the aircraft type and five Safety Recommendations were made to Bombardier to address the continuing risk.

Description

On 5 June 2015, a Bombardier DHC8-200 (N363PH) being operated for United Express by CommutAir on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Newark, NJ to Bradley International (Windsor Locks), CT as CA 4776 experienced a sudden fire in descent in day VMC. The fire followed arcing in the right hand windshield block. An emergency was declared and both pilots donned their crew oxygen masks. Discharge of a fire extinguisher twice failed to control the fire. Although it eventually stopped, a lot of residual smoke remained in the flight deck. After a normal landing, the aircraft cleared the runway. The crew shut down both engines and the emergency evacuation was completed in approximately 30 seconds with no injuries. The AFS found no signs of continued fire.

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