What happened
On June 6, 2009, Japan Airlines flight JAL 653, a Boeing 767-300ER with registration JA613J, was on approach to Taoyuan International Airport from Osaka. At approximately 20:43 local time, while the aircraft was at an altitude of about 1,900 feet, cabin crew members noticed a burning smell in the rear of the cabin. Upon investigation, they discovered smoke and fire originating from a passenger seat.
The flight crew was notified of the smoke, and the captain began relocating passengers away from the affected area. During the descent, cabin crew utilized fire extinguishers to suppress the flames. At 2/21:53, the pilots informed air traffic control of the smoke and requested to stop on a taxiway after landing. An emergency was declared, and airport fire services were dispatched. The aircraft landed safely at 20:24:16. Following the landing, an inspection of the seat revealed a charred lighter.
The investigation
The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) conducted an investigation involving international partners, including the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The investigation focused on the seat mechanism at seat 47C, where the lighter was found. Investigators examined the physical properties of the lighter, the seat's reclining mechanism, and the possibility of items slipping into seat crevices.
Findings
- The fire was caused by a blue-flame lighter that had become lodged in the reclining mechanism of seat 47C.
- When a passenger adjusted the seatback to an upright position during descent, the seat's actuation mechanism compressed the lighter's ignition device against a fixed support point.
- The resulting blue flame burned through the seat upholstery, causing the remaining butane fuel to ignite briefly before the flame extinguished due to lack of continuous fuel and oxygen.
- While the lighter was permitted under the regulations in place at the time, its design allowed it to be ignited by a single continuous mechanical action.
- There were no injuries to the 33 passengers or 11 crew members on board, though the investigation noted that had a passenger been seated in that specific seat, they could have sustained burns.