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An American Airlines Airbus A330-300 has made an unscheduled landing in Dublin, Ireland, after two cabin crew momentarily fell unconscious from cleaning fluid fumes.
The incident occurred on Monday, October 21 on board A330-300 N273AY operating the AA 729 from London Heathrow to Philadelphia.
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According to a report from The Aviation Herald, the incident occurred about 170nm southwest of Shannon, with the aircraft at an altitude 37,000ft when the crew reported a chemical odour on board and two flight attendants had momentarily passed out.
“The crew decided to turn around and divert to Dublin advising that both cabin crew regained their consciousness,” The Aviation Herald report said.
“In the meantime, the crew had been actually able to identify the spillage. At Heathrow Airport a canister with an aircraft interior cleaner CH2200D had been left behind in a lavatory. The canister had leaked its fluid into the carpets and was now secured into a plastics bag.
“They were told it was not a toxic substance, but mainly consisting of derivatives of ammonium chloride.”
Also, the report said a number of passengers had complained about respiratory and eye irritations.
The flight crew requested medical assistance to be made available upon landing.
“The aircraft landed safely on Dublin’s runway 28 about one hour after turning around. Paramedics attended to the affected cabin crew and a number of passengers,” The Aviation Herald report said.
“Dublin Airport reported the aircraft diverted to Dublin due to a medical emergency.
“The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Dublin about 10 hours after landing.”
Media reports said the two crew members and one passenger were taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, the Airport Webcams Twitter page posted audio of the flight crew’s exchanges with air traffic control:
ATC AUDIO: American #AA729 incident on board involving cleaning fluid spillage causing unconsciousness and irritations on board (LHR-PHL, diverted to DUB): https://t.co/Q5mYxetVSX |
Via @liveatc archiveshttps://t.co/ykfTSQBWuZ
— Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) October 21, 2019
RicardoW
says:Interesting diversion. Shannon closer and a super long runway at 3.2kms.