A321 flight crew reported there was a burning smell permeating throughout the cabin during taxi and the flight attendants began to experience physiological symptoms. The aircraft returned to the gate; the passengers were deplaned; and the flight crew went to the hospital afterwards for safety reasons.
Synopsis
A321 flight crew reported there was a burning smell permeating throughout the cabin during taxi and the flight attendants began to experience physiological symptoms. The aircraft returned to the gate; the passengers were deplaned; and the flight crew went to the hospital afterwards for safety reasons.
Narrative
Received NOTOC during cockpit preparation; which was acknowledged via ACARS. On initial taxi out; discrepancy with load closeout was noticed by FO - Dangerous Goods (DG) was apparently loaded but not noted on final closeout. While contacting Operations and Dispatch; Person A; to resolve issue; FA called flight deck and notified CA of burning smell coming from the bottom of aircraft." Due to DG potentially loaded on aircraft; decision was made to return to gate as soon as possible. During deplaning strong odor was present in cabin and several FAs stated about feeling nauseous and sick. FO noted unusual amount of soot underneath APU on post walk-around. Mechanic was briefed on event and flight crew answered fume event questionnaire orally that Mechanic had printed out. After passenger deplaning; all crew members had some sort of signs of malaise and/or metallic taste in their mouth. Decision was made to go to ER for further testing/blood analysis. One FA later stated that 'smell' was noticed during push-back. Cause: FA could have been more specific and time-sensitive to report smell/odor. I only realized that this was a fume event by the time I opened the flight deck door back at the gate. I could have run the odor checklist had the FA been more specific. However; taxi time from ramp location to gate was under one minute. My initial thoughts about burning smell were related to DG."
Second reporter narrative
Boarded and pushed back under completely normal circumstances. We were sitting on tarmac due to an issue with weight and balance paperwork. While we were sitting FA3 noticed a smell - burning; like ovens but they were off - in the forward galley and calls flight deck. FA1 smells the galley and forward cabin and can notice a strong burning odor; FA1 turns off chillers thinking that may be what's causing it and after speaking with crew in back galley we notice the smell is in both galleys; but stronger in the forward galley and can be smelt through first class cabin. FA2 begins to feel lightheaded; nauseous and confused; FA3 begins to feel woozy with burning eyes; FA1 develops a headache and begins to feel woozy. Captain decides to taxi back to gate; we were exposed for about 45 minutes. We deplaned and symptoms got worse for most of the crew. FA1 began to throw up before stepping out into the gate area to get out of the aircraft. FO did walkaround and found black markings near tail/APU that was not there originally on first walkaround prior to push back. The entire crew; 2 pilots; 4 flight attendants; took 2 rideshares to the nearest emergency room to begin blood work. Nurses/doctors got us in and blood drawn around the 2/3 hour mark; testing for CO2 as well as organophosphate per poison control suggestions. No one showed CO2 poisoning at the time of blood draw; we are still waiting on other tests. FO and FA3 began getting metallic taste in mouth at the hospital; most other symptoms for other crew began to dissipate. FA1 had some light headedness and a headache. We left ER around XA:00 to get to hotel.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.