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Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Montréal–Dorval International Airport, with an intermediate stop at Toronto Pearson International Airport. On 2 June 1983, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 operating the service developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that knocked out most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to an alternative landing field. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, the heat of the fire and fresh oxygen from the open exit doors created flashover conditions, and the plane's interior immediately became engulfed in flames, killing 23 passengers who had yet to evacuate the aircraft. As a result of this accident, aviation regulations around the world were changed to make aircraft safer, with new requirements to install smoke detectors in lavatories and emergency lighting leading to exit doors, and increased fire fighting training and equipment for crew members. At the time of the accident, Air Canada had 41 other DC-9s in its fleet. == Details == At 16:20 CDT (21:20 UTC) on 2 June 1983,〔(NTSB report on Flight 797 crash )〕 the Air Canada aircraft, registered took off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport; it was to make a stop at Toronto International Airport, ultimately bound for Dorval Airport in Dorval, Quebec. Donald Cameron, 51, was the captain and Claude Ouimet, 34, served as first officer. Both were experienced pilots – Cameron had accrued approximately 13,000 flight hours and Ouimet had 5,650 hours. While flying over Louisville, Kentucky, an in-flight fire started in or around the rear lavatory of the aircraft. The pilots heard a popping sound around 18:51, during dinner service, and discovered that the lavatory's circuit breakers had tripped. It was not uncommon, however, for a plane's lavatory circuits to pop occasionally, precipitated by passengers using the toilet after eating,〔"Fire Fight," ''Mayday''〕 so Cameron waited around eight minutes to give the tripped circuits time to cool down before attempting to reactivate them at 18:59.〔 A strong, noxious odour coming from the rear of the plane was first reported to the cabin crew around 19:00.〔 33-year-old flight attendant Judi Davidson traced the odour to the lavatory. She attempted to look into the lavatory but was forced back by thick grey smoke rapidly filling the small room; she then ordered the third ranking crew member to find Sergio Benetti, 37, the chief cabin crew officer, and ask him to investigate. As Benetti sprayed the interior of the affected lavatory with a CO2 extinguisher, Davidson reported the fire to the captain while 28-year-old flight attendant Laura Kayama began urging the passengers on the sparsely-populated flight to come away from the front and rear of the plane and sit close together near the over-wing exits.〔 At no time did any of the cabin crew mention to either Cameron or Ouimet that they had not yet seen flames, and Benetti, the one person who had managed to get a good look at the scene, had not reported seeing anything resembling the traditional causes of airline fires in pre-smoking-ban days: flames from a trash bin fire or the paper towel dispenser,〔 both of which were commonly set ablaze by passengers smoking in the lavatories on long flights. First officer Ouimet went to investigate personally at 19:03, but was driven back by the thick smoke. At 19:04, Benetti reported that he thought the fire was probably out because he had completely doused the lavatory with fire retardant.〔 Just three minutes later, however, at 19:07, passengers reported smelling smoke in the cabin again. Two minutes after that the "master breaker" alarm went off in the cockpit, and electrical systems throughout the plane began to fail, including power for the elevator trim system. This made controlling the plane's descent extremely difficult and required great physical exertion from the pilot and first officer. The PA system also failed, leaving the flight attendants unable to communicate efficiently with the passengers; nevertheless, attendants were able to instruct passengers sitting in the exit rows on how to open the doors, a practice that was not standard on commercial airline flights at the time.〔 At 19:20, Cameron and Ouimet made an extremely difficult emergency landing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, located in Boone County, Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. During the evacuation, the overwing aircraft doors were opened, causing an influx of air that fuelled the fire. Ouimet escaped through the co-pilot's emergency window shortly after the plane landed, but Cameron, who had expended a great deal of physical energy while trying to keep the plane under control, was unable to move due to exhaustion. Firefighters doused Cameron in firefighting foam through Ouimet's window, shocking him back to consciousness; Cameron was then able to open the pilot's emergency escape window and drop to the ground, where he was dragged to safety by Ouimet.〔 Cameron was the last person to make it out of the plane alive.〔 Less than 90 seconds after touchdown, the interior of the plane flashed over and ignited, killing 23 of the 41 passengers. The passengers trapped inside the plane died from smoke inhalation and burns from the flash fire. Dianne Fadley, a survivor, said that "it was almost like anybody who got out had nothing wrong";〔 of the eighteen surviving passengers, three received serious injuries, thirteen received minor injuries, and two were uninjured, while none of the five crew members sustained any injuries.〔 "You made it and you were completely fine," Fadley concluded, "or you didn't make it."〔 Twenty-one Canadians and two Americans died. Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Almost all of the victims were in the forward half of the aircraft between the wings and the cockpit. Some bodies were in the aisles, and some bodies were still in the seats. Two victims were in the back of the aircraft, even though the passengers were moved forward after the fire had been detected; the disoriented passengers moved beyond the overwing exits and succumbed. The blood samples from the bodies revealed high levels of cyanide, fluoride, and carbon monoxide, chemicals produced by the burning plane.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Air Canada Flight 797」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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