Incident Overview
Flight 797 was a scheduled international passenger service from Dallas to Montreal, with an intermediate stop in Toronto. The aircraft carried 5 crew members and 41 passengers. At approximately 1903 Eastern Daylight Time, while cruising at Flight Level 330 (about 33,000 feet), smoke was detected in the left aft lavatory. Cabin crew attempted to extinguish the hidden fire and subsequently contacted air traffic control (ATC), declaring an emergency. The flight crew initiated an emergency descent, and ATC vectored the aircraft to Greater Cincinnati International Airport in Covington, Kentucky.
Emergency Response and Landing
The aircraft landed on Runway 27L at 1920:09 Eastern Daylight Time. The airport fire department, having been alerted by the tower to the fire on board, was in place and began firefighting operations as the aircraft came to a stop. Immediately after stopping, crew and passengers opened the left and right forward doors, the left forward overwing exit, and the right forward and aft overwing exits.
Evacuation and Fatalities
Approximately 60 to 90 seconds after the exits were opened, a flash fire engulfed the cabin interior. Eighteen passengers and three flight attendants evacuated through the forward doors and slides and the three open overwing exits. The captain and first officer exited via their cockpit sliding windows. However, 23 passengers were unable to escape and died in the fire. The aircraft was destroyed.
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board conducted an investigation into the accident. The probable causes were determined to be a fire of undetermined origin, an underestimate of fire severity, and misleading fire progress information provided to the captain. The time taken to evaluate the nature of the fire and to decide to initiate an emergency descent contributed to the severity of the accident.