B787 flight crew reported overheating and smoke from the passenger seat entertainment system. Flight crew diverted and landed uneventfully.
Synopsis
B787 flight crew reported overheating and smoke from the passenger seat entertainment system. Flight crew diverted and landed uneventfully.
Narrative
On Flight ZZZ ZZZZ; we were at cruise at FL370. The FA called and said there was a burning smell at 12D. Passenger at 12D said she was watching a movie and heard a popping sound in her ear pods or headset and the TV monitor went blank. The FA began investigating and pull the seat cushion off and turned off a toggle switch to turn off power to the seat. The junction box was hot. Turning off the toggle switch also turned off power to seat 11D. Both passengers were moved to economy seats. I talked with the purser and she said everything was under control with the seat. I had dispatch CALL ME on SAT Voice. Talked with both Dispatch and Maintenance Control and Maintenance Control said there was nothing more the FA could do. I talked with Dispatch and we agreed to continue the flight. I talked with the flying FO and we talked about possible diversion points which we were flying over ZZZ1 and ZZZ2. I also saw ZZZ3 about 160 miles up ahead if we needed to divert somewhere. Soon after I hung up the SAT Voice call; the Purser called back up and she said 2 FA were using Fire Extinguishers on the junction box and it was starting to heat up again with smoke. I gave the flying and talking duties to the Flying FO. I called up the Relief pilot on his break and asked if he would help the FA. I did another SAT Voice call and talked with Dispatch and told him the situation was getting worse. I told him I wanted to [request priority handling] and we could go to ZZZ3 or ZZZ4 almost equal distance. Dispatch said ZZZ4 and I agreed. I told him to [request priority handling] with ATC and also told the flying FO to declare us a [priority] aircraft and go to ZZZ4. Another FA called up and I talk to him and told him we would divert to ZZZ4. He said they were using the fire extinguisher still on the seat but it was under control. I asked if he thought we would need to evacuate the aircraft after landing and he said no; everything was under control and we should go to the gate to let Fire Fighter look at the seat after we got to the gate. I asked if he needed the Relief pilot to help them out but he said the had it under control; so I had the Relief pilot come back up to the cockpit to help with the divert to ZZZ4. Dispatch ACARS us and asked if we were going to land overweight or dump gas. I believe we were going to land overweight of about 5;000-XX;000 lbs. and I felt it was best to land overweight with a possible fire onboard. We got set up in FMC and FO suggested the longest Runway of XXL; MAX AUTO brakes; Flaps 30. I asked for the ILS XXL. I completed the descent checklist and briefed the approach and an exit plan. Talking with the purser; she still agreed to taxi to the Gate and NOT evacuate. I gave the FA Prepare the Cabin for Landing announcement. I asked the other 2 pilots how they felt and if I missed anything. They both said they were good. I told them we are all good and lets not rush anything. I asked the Flying FO that we would be landing a little overweight and if he wanted to continue flying and make the landing. Since he had been flying I felt it was safest for him to make the landing. At about 1;000 AGL iI notice our GLW was at 431.2. After that we got a caution that both Packs Failed. I said to continue the short approach and we landed.FO made a nice smooth landing and the MAX AUTO Brakes worked great. I took over the airplane on the runway and exited the runway. Fire Trucks we waiting for us on the taxi way when we cleared. We talked with Ground and Crash Fire Rescue and told them we would like to taxi to Gate XX. CFR said everything looked good to them and asked if we had hot brakes. The highest we saw was 6.1 in the caution area. I taxied slow and parked at Gate XX. The FA kept the people in their seat and the Fire Fighters came onboard. The Fire Fighter came to the cockpit and said everything was under control and nothing was hot. We did our checklist and wrote up the overweight land and the seat 12D. I thank all the passengers as they deplaned. The mechanics came on board and looked at the seat 12D. I asked one of them if they found the problem. He said that the FA over reacted because there was only smoke and no fire. I told him I was [not] gong to take the airplane over the ocean like that.I want to commend both my flying crew and all the Flight Attendants for a great and professional job they did in handling the situation. Everyone communicated and worked well together and got the airplane and passenger safely on the ground
Second reporter narrative
On [DATE] ; Flight ZZZ-ZZZZ; we were enroute to ZZZZ. I was the Relief pilot and was on the first break in the bunk. 30-45 minutes into my break; the Captain called up to the bunk to tell me there had been a burning smell at seat 12D and asked if I could check on it with the Flight Attendants to assess the situation. When I went down; one of the flight attendants caught me up on the situation and said that the Entertainment system seemed to short out and the passenger heard a popping sound in her headphones. She told me that they had turned off the power to the seat since they smelled an electrical burning smell and since then; they have not smelled; or seen anything eluding to an existing fire. I inspected the seat and the electrical area underneath as best I could; and did smell the electrical burning smell she talked about; but did not see anything currently burning or smoking. So We agreed that with nothing currently smoking; we are ok to continue the flight; and they relocated passenger 12D to another open seat on the plane. At this time I contacted the captain via interphone and talked with him about continuing the flight since we have not seen any other fire symptoms since the first initial smell. He agreed and I went back up into the bunk area to continue my rest.About 10-15 minutes into my rest again; Another FA came into the bunk area to let me know that a spark had started again in the seat and that they are using fire extinguishers; and we are diverting to ZZZ4. I heading down immediately to help assess the situation; and saw a FA at the seat 12D using water and fire extinguishers on the electrical equipment of the seat. We both saw the Micro USB port under the popped circuit breaker glowing red; so I knew that there was som sort of electrical issue bypassing the toggle switch for the power to the seat. The flight attendants seemed to have the fire/smoke under control and were working diligently to clean the cabin up for the imminent landing at ZZZ4. With verification from the lead FA that they had the situation safely under control in the cabin; I joined the other pilots in the flight deck.I arrived in the flight deck just before they initiated the decent checklist and caught up on the diversion and arrival preparation. We were an emergency aircraft heading direct to ZZZ4 ILS XXL set up for a straight in approach and an overweight landing of 5;000-10;000 lbs. The CA verified this situation and if we all agreed to an overweight landing. The FO was the flying pilot for the [situation] and was ok with the overweight landing. I double checked the weather and landing data to help catch myself back up to the situation; as well as contacted ZZZ4 Operations for CFR and gate assignments to help with task saturation of the flying pilots. With verification from the flight attendants; there was no active fire in the cabin and they had a FA in the jumpseat near 12D to watch over it in case it sparked or started smoking again. With this information; we agreed we did not need to stop on the runway when we landed and we could taxi to a gate and have a firefighter board the aircraft to inspect the seat before we deplaned.At this time the CA asked us if he thought we were missing anything and we all agreed that we were prepared for the arrival into ZZZ4; and that since there is no active fire that we don't need to rush anything. During landing; we were around 430;000 lbs; about 5k over the MLW. At around 500 ft the Packs L+R caution message appeared; and the CA agreed to disregard and continue landing. The pressurization in the plane at that time was 300ft. FO had a smooth landing and MAX AUTO breaks engaged. CFR was waiting for us on the taxiway and with correspondence from them and ground; we agreed to taxi to the gate. The brake temperature rose to 6.1; which is only in the caution area and did not heat up any more than that. After parking at gate XX; Firefighter came onboard and verified that there is no active fire andwe deplaned safely after that. Mechanics came on board to inspect the seat. One mechanic told us the flight attendants overreacted in the situation; but the other pilots and I all agreed that with the seat power off; and some electrical component still overheating or shorting out; we needed to divert. We thought it would not be safe to continue the flight with this electrical issue.All pilots and Flight attendants acted quickly and did a great job in handling the situation to help us get on the ground in a safe manner.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.