Inflight fires - A threat on the increase - Curt Lewis

Incident: Mesa CRJ9 at Birmingham on Oct 24th 2017, smoke in cabin

A Mesa Airlines Canadair CRJ-900 on behalf of American Airlines, registration N932LR performing flight YV-5723/AA-5723 from Birmingham,AL to Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) with 79 passengers and 4 crew, was climbing out of Birmingham's runway 24 when the crew reported they needed to return immediately due to smoke in the cabin. The aircraft stopped the climb at 7000 feet and was positioning for the approach to runway 24, when the crew updated flight attendants had just reported there was a bag emitting the smoke, they didn't really know what it was, they needed to evacuate after landing. The aircraft landed safely on runway 24 about 15 minutes after departure, after landing the crew decided they were able to taxi to the apron and taxied to the apron with emergency services in trail. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 4:20 hours, then departed again and reached Dallas with a delay of 4.5 hours Southwest Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Amarillo AMARILLO - A Southwest Airlines flight makes an emergency in Amarillo following a smoke detector being set off. According to Captain Larry Davis of the Amarillo Fire Department, at about 11:30 this morning, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 made an emergency landing at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. According to a statement from Southwest Airlines, the captain of the flight made the decision to divert to Amarillo after the aft lavatory smoke detector was set activated. The flight was originally scheduled from Tulsa International Airport to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. The airline says the smoke detector was set off by a passenger using a vaporizer, but that there was never any smoke. According to FlightAware.com, the flight departed at 12:57 p.m. for Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. Flight returns to Birmingham airport after reports of smoke in cabin A Dallas-bound American Airlines plane was forced to return to Birmingham after the pilot reported smoke in the cabin. 79 passengers were evacuated onto the tarmac once the plane landed. (abc3340.com) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - An American Airlines flight was forced to return to Birmingham early Monday morning after the pilot reported smoke in the cabin. American Eagle Flight 5723 was forced to turn around minutes after takeoff from Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport. Passengers tell ABC 33/40 News the plane circled the airport a few times before landing. The Dallas-bound flight's 79 passengers were quickly evacuated onto the tarmac where Birmingham Fire-Rescue personnel were waiting. No one was injured during the flight. "There was so much going on that happened so quickly that when we landed it was like 'Get off the plane, get off the plane, get off the plane.' She made it kind of sound urgent," said Ashelynn Falkenburg Smith, who was beginning a vacation to California with her husband and daughter. Smith's family was re-booked on a later flight. Many other passengers were left Monday morning struggling to make their scheduled connecting flights. Regular flight operations at the airport were not interrupted by the emergency landing. American Airlines has not said what it believes caused the smoke inside the plane's cabin.