- Date
- March 31, 1993, 13:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Moline, IL
- Injuries
- 21 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N426TEAerospatiale ATR-42-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 15596
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The passenger's failure to extinguish a cigarette before placing it into the lavatory waste bin. Factors related to the incident were: an inoperative smoke detector in the lavatory, the manufacturer's inadequate maintenance program, and inadequate review of the maintenance program by the federal aviation administration.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
A passenger had discarded a cigarette before leaving the lavatory. The flight attendant found smoke issuing from the waste bin and extinguished the fire. There was no indication in the cockpit of smoke or fire. A later check of the smoke detector showed it did not activate when smoke was generated in the lavatory. The operator adhered to the aircraft manufacturer's recommended maintenance program; the program contained no procedure or interval for cleaning smoke detectors or ducting. There was no operational test which demostrated a detector could sense smoke.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N426TE
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale ATR-42-300 (ATR 42-300)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 228
- Engine
- P&W PW-120, 1,800 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- No damage
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Trans States Airlines, doing business as Trans World Express
- Registered owner
- Mcdonnell -Douglas Finance Cor
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 3, 1993 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- STL · St. Louis, MO
- Flight plan
- IFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 36
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,500 total · 2,700 in this make and model · 7,800 as pilot in command · 242 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,650 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MLI, 70 nm away