A United Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft was involved in an incident last month on December 19th, during which smoke appeared from a passenger’s mobile phone. This resulted in the aircraft declaring an emergency and almost conducting an emergency landing. Ultimately, this was deemed unnecessary.
The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft in question is owned and operated by United Airlines and was deployed on a regularly scheduled service between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Paris Charles de Gaulle/Roissy International Airport (CDG). The aircraft is registered N78001 and is nearly 25 years old. It was delivered to Continental Airlines in 1998 and entered into service with United Airlines in 2010.
Phone caught fire
The incident occurred roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes after takeoff from Newark. The aircraft was planning to take a more northerly route over the Atlantic, passing over the city of Boston in the United States and the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon at the tip of North-East Canada. The aircraft was at 33,000 feet and was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 170 nautical miles northeast of St John’s, Canada. According to The Aviation Herald, a passenger’s smartphone began dispersing smoke signals as it prepared to enter Oceanic Airspace.The flight attendants engaged fire extinguishes on the device and declared an emergency with a request to divert to the nearby St. John’s International Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Once the fire was put out, the flight crew placed the smartphone into a secure container, and the emergency was eventually decided unnecessary and canceled. The crew had deemed the emergency over, and the aircraft could continue to Paris. The Canadian Transportation Safety Bureau said:”During cruise, as the aircraft was entering oceanic airspace, smoke was observed emanating from a passenger’s cell phone. The crew declared an emergency and ATC cleared them to the St. John’s International Airport (CYYT), NL.
During that time, flight attendants discharged halon fire extinguishers and placed the cell phone in a thermal containment bag,Emergency canceled
According to data from Flightradar24, the aircraft entered into a holding pattern at 33,000 feet in preparation for an emergency landing at St. John’s International Airport.
The aircraft remained at that altitude, indicating that the crew was likely discussing the following steps and whether to interrupt the flight with a diversion for safety reasons. After deciding that the flight was safe to continue to Paris, the crew veered back on course over the Atlantic Ocean approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes after takeoff.