DURING UNLOADING OF A DC-10-30; TWO HAZMAT CONTAINERS WERE FOUND LAYING ON THEIR SIDE WITH ONE LEAKING. THE LEAKING CONTAINER WAS MISSING A CAP SEAL.

Date: 2004-02 · Aircraft: DC-10 30 · Phase: ground

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-hazardous-material-violation|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|flight-deck-cabin-aircraft-event-smoke-fire-fumes-odor

Synopsis

DURING UNLOADING OF A DC-10-30; TWO HAZMAT CONTAINERS WERE FOUND LAYING ON THEIR SIDE WITH ONE LEAKING. THE LEAKING CONTAINER WAS MISSING A CAP SEAL.

Narrative

DURING A CARGO OFFLOAD AT ZZZZ; THE LOADERS NOTICED A LEAKING HAZMAT CONTAINER ON THE AFT SIDE OF PALLET #12. THIS CONTAINER WAS ONE OF 12 JERRICANS OF AN ACID THAT WERE ON LOADED IN ZZZ; AND WERE BOUND FOR ZZZZ1. ACCORDING TO THE SHIPPER'S DECLARATION THIS IS A CORROSIVE LIQUID; ACIDIC; INORGANIC; NOS AND EACH JERRICAN CONTAINED 19 LITERS. IT APPEARED THAT THE CONTAINERS SHIFTED DURING THE FLT AND TWO CONTAINERS FELL OFF THEIR SMALL WOODEN PALLET AND WERE LAYING ON THEIR SIDES AT THE AFT BOTTOM OF PALLET #12. ONE OF THE CONTAINERS WAS LEAKING ACID ONTO THE ACFT CARGO FLOOR. I PLACED A CALL TO THE 1-800 NUMBER AT HAZMAT EMER HELP LINE AND TALKED TO MR. X. WE FOLLOWED HIS ADVICE; PLACING ABSORBENT SAND ON THE LIQUID; AND THEN REMOVING THE SAND. THE HAZMAT EMER HELP LINE REPORT IS #XXXXX. INSPECTION OF THE LEAKING JERRICAN REVEALED THAT A LARGE BLACK RUBBER 'O' RING WAS MISSING FROM THE SCREW ON CAP. OTHER JERRICANS ALL HAD THIS 'O' RING IN PLACE. MAINT RELEASED THE ACFT FOR FLT AFTER INSPECTING ALL ACCESSIBLE AREAS. FURTHER INSPECTIONS AND CLEANING WOULD BE PERFORMED IN ZZZ. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR STATED WHEN THE LEAKING CONTAINER WAS DISCOVERED AN IMMEDIATE CALL WAS MADE TO THE HAZARDOUS MATERIAL FOLKS AT HAZMAT EMER HELP LINE USING THE 1-800 NUMBER AND WAS ADVISED TO USE ABSORBENT SAND ON THE LIQUID. THE RPTR SAID THE PLASTIC MAIN DECK FLOOR SHEETING WAS BEGINNING TO BUBBLE UP. THE RPTR STATED IN AND AROUND THE SPILL AREA A STRONG ACRID ODOR WAS PRESENT AND SLOWED THE CLEANUP PROCESS. THE RPTR SAID THE AIRPLANE WAS OUT OF SERVICE FOR 12 HOURS FOR THE PRELIMINARY CLEANUP AND INSPECTION OF FLOOR BEAMS AND INTERIOR STRUCTURE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.