Ingen røyk uten ild.......eller? Flybe Dash 8

Pilot smoke warning actions slammed

Pilots of a passenger plane who assumed a spurious smoke warning was valid took actions which "significantly degraded the operational capability of the aircraft", an accident report has said.

The cockpit crew of the Edinburgh-bound Dash 8 aircraft, with 47 passengers on board, carried out checklist actions designed to tackle fire or smoke from an unknown source, the report said.

The actions caused the aircraft to begin to depressurise, the commandeer had to fly manually and the co-pilot's flight displays were blank, the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

A smoke warning light had lit up as the aircraft, operated by airline Flybe and flying from Newquay Airport in Cornwall on the morning of July 21 last year, was about 25 miles south west of Carlisle in Cumbria.

The co-pilot had asked the senior cabin crew member to look for smoke and she reported back that she could not smell any smoke. The captain told her that "we had to fight the fire" and that they would be making an emergency descent into Edinburgh, the report said.

The AAIB added that the captain had told the co-pilot that no smoke had been seen but they agreed that the situation would have to be treated "as real".

When the plane landed safely at Edinburgh, passengers were evacuated through the four cabin doors, two at the front and two at the back, rather than via chutes in a rapid disembarkation.

Passengers used steps at the front left door but the other doors had neither steps nor slides, said the AAIB, which described the incident as "serious".

Some passengers tried to put on coats and take belongings with them and the evacuation was slowed by some being reluctant to jump down from the door sills which were more than 5ft (1.6m) above the ground.

Passengers were taken to the business lounge at Edinburgh and were able to leave about three hours after the evacuation.