Lufthansa B744 at Denver and Frankfurt on Oct 20th 2017 and Oct 21st 2017, fumes on board, passengers and cabin crew unwell
Last Update: October 26, 2017 / 13:56:08 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 20, 2017
Classification
Accident
Cause
Fumes on board
Airline
Lufthansa
Flight number
LH-447
Departure
Denver, United States
Destination
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Aircraft Registration
D-ABVW
Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400
ICAO Type Designator
B744
The same aircraft had a very similiar occurrence just two days earlier again as flight LH-447, see Accident: Lufthansa B744 at Denver and Frankfurt on Oct 18th 2017 and Oct 19th 2017, fumes on board, passengers and cabin crew unwell.
Germany's BFU told The Aviation Herald, that they have NOT been informed about this occurrence of Oct 21st 2017 (departure Oct 20th 2017), however, were notified only about the earlier occurrence of Oct 19th 2017 (departure Oct 18th 2017). The BFU reconfirmed this occurrence not having been reported to the BFU upon re-query by The Aviation Herald early Oct 26th 2017.
The Aviation Herald received information from an unusually high and worrying number of sources regarding this flight. The sources were unusually concerned about not being named (Editorial note: The Aviation Herald always applies source protection automatically unless the source requests to be identified in clearly written words).
Passengers reported they were waiting for boarding the flight when they received announcements of technical problems, maintenance was being carried out. They observed all cabin doors of the aircraft were opened. About one hour later boarding began, boarding went normally. The captain announced there had been a technical problem with the APU. A passenger believes the engines were then started without the use of the APU by an external power unit as the aircraft went completely dark for about a second during engine start. When the engines started an odour of cheesy, dirty old socks started which lasted for about 3-5 minutes before dissipating again. The flight went normal until about 15-30 minutes prior to landing, when the odour developed again, a number of passengers as well as cabin crew visibly felt unwell.
Additional sources told The Aviation Herald, that when the crew entered the aircraft to prepare it for flight LH-447, there was an acid strong odour of cheesy old dirty socks throughout the aircraft. The crew contacted maintenance who recommended to shut the APU down and open all cabin doors to ventilate the aircraft. The odour dissipated as result, and boarding commenced. During engine start the odour became penetrant again for about 5 minutes and dissipated again only to became apparent again during the descent into Frankfurt. This was the second occurrence on the same aircraft and same route within 2 days. The captain of the flight is reported to have claimed while on the ground in Denver that cabin crew were making up such odour reports but later into the flight admitted to have been smelling the odour, too. The captain reportedly informed maintenance to have the aircraft inspected after arrival in Frankfurt. Although neither member of the crew went to see a doctor following the flight (and consequently none went on sick leave), flight attendants still complain about dizziness, difficulties breathing (shortness of breath), oppressive feeling in the chest area, heachaches and numbness in arms and legs several days after the occurrence. LBA, BFU, pilot associations, cabin crew associations have been directly notified of the occurrence.
More additional sources reported that in both occurrences there had been health issues reported by both passengers and cabin crew including symptoms of paralysis, vomitting, anxiety, headache, nausea etc. as result of a strong chemical burning odour.
The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 3 hours, then departed as scheduled flight LH-600 to Tehran (Iran).
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 20, 2017
Classification
Accident
Cause
Fumes on board
Airline
Lufthansa
Flight number
LH-447
Departure
Denver, United States
Destination
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Aircraft Registration
D-ABVW
Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400
ICAO Type Designator
B744
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
Article source
You can read 2 more free articles without a subscription.
Subscribe now and continue reading without any limits!
Read unlimited articles and receive our daily update briefing. Gain better insights into what is happening in commercial aviation safety.
Send tip
Support AeroInside by sending a small tip amount.
Related articles
Lufthansa B744 at Vancouver on Aug 25th 2023, could not retract landing gear
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400, registration D-ABVW performing flight LH-493 from Vancouver,BC (Canada) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), was climbing out of…
Lufthansa B744 at Denver and Frankfurt on Oct 18th 2017 and Oct 19th 2017, fumes on board, passengers and cabin crew unwell
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400, registration D-ABVW performing flight LH-447 (dep. Oct 18th, arr Oct 19th) from Denver,CO (USA) to Frankfurt/Main…
Lufthansa B744 enroute on Jan 29th 2014, severe turbulence caused airframe overstress
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400, registration D-ABVW performing flight LH-446 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Denver,CO (USA), encountered severe…
Lufthansa B748 over Atlantik on May 9th 2024, electrical odour on board
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-8, registration D-ABYP performing flight LH-430 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA) with 320 passengers…
Lufthansa A320 near Stuttgart on May 6th 2024, unusual odour on board
A Lufthansa Airbus A320-200, registration D-AIUO performing flight LH-289 from Bologna (Italy) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 165 passengers and 6…
Lufthansa A20N near Frankfurt on Apr 19th 2024, odour on board
A Lufthansa Airbus A320-200, registration D-AINF performing flight LH-916 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out…
Lufthansa A320 near Toulouse on Apr 21st 2024, cabin pressure problems
A Lufthansa Airbus A320-200, registration D-AIQW performing flight LH-1125 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), was enroute at…
Lufthansa A359 near Frankfurt on Apr 19th 2024, smoke in aft galley
A Lufthansa Airbus A350-900, registration D-AIVC performing flight LH-474 from Munich (Germany) to Montreal,QC (Canada), was enroute at FL360 about…
Newest articles
Dana MD82 at Lagos on Apr 23rd 2024, runway excursion
A Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration 5N-BKI performing flight 9J-352 from Abuja to Lagos (Nigeria) with 83 passengers and 6 crew, landed…
LATAM Brasil A320 at Brasilia on May 13th 2024, engine shut down in flight
A LATAM Brasil Airbus A320-200, registration PR-MYI performing flight LA-3008 from Sao Paulo Congonhas,SP to Brasilia,DF (Brazil) with 106 people on…
Subscribe today
Are you researching aviation incidents? Get access to AeroInside Insights, unlimited read access and receive the daily newsletter.
Pick your plan and subscribePartner
A new way to document and demonstrate airworthiness compliance and aircraft value. Find out more.
ELITE Simulation Solutions is a leading global provider of Flight Simulation Training Devices, IFR training software as well as flight controls and related services. Find out more.
Your regulation partner, specialists in aviation safety and compliance; providing training, auditing, and consultancy services. Find out more.
AeroInside Blog
Popular aircraft
Airbus A320Boeing 737-800
Boeing 737-800 MAX
Popular airlines
American AirlinesUnited
Delta
Air Canada
Lufthansa
British Airways