Cessna Citation 750 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest suitable airport due to smoke in the cabin.
Synopsis
Cessna Citation 750 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest suitable airport due to smoke in the cabin.
Narrative
Uneventful flight until; Captain went into back to use the facilities and returned up front where I informed him of a frequency change and nothing else exciting to report. All of a sudden there was a very strong smell of smoke and something burning. I asked him if he had seen the passenger smoking when he was in the back. When he said no; he turned around to ask if anyone was. After they said 'no'; he said; 'get us lower and; lets get this thing on the ground.' the Captain put his mask on as I declared an emergency and requested a lower altitude immediately. We asked for the closest airport with good crash rescue services; which was below us. As we proceeded with the checklist for smoke in the cabin; I worked ATC and received all altitudes and headings that the Captain asked for from ATC without question. As we got lower; we talked to the passengers over the overhead speaker to keep them in the loop of our situation. There were a few in the back who looked obviously nervous. Even though the smell had dissipated; we informed them of a precautionary landing and that fire trucks would be seen out of the windows as a precaution. We landed without incident and made our way over to the general aviation ramp where trucks escorted us and EMT service was available which all passengers declined. Overall; from the time the smoke was smelt to the time we were the ground was very short. Maybe 5 minutes. We descended in excess on 9000 FPM at times and worked very well together getting things accomplished. All checklists were completed and we had the emergency evacuation checklist open just in case.
Second reporter narrative
In cruise at FL430 the First officer asked me if I smelled smoke. I did smell the sweet smell of a freshly lit cigarette and turned to ask if any passengers were smoking. They all said no so I put on my Oxygen mask . We declared an emergency with ATC and requested an immediate descent to the nearest large airport with emergency equipment. The smell of smoke was no longer present so we taxied to the FBO with the emergency equipment following. About 2 minutes into the descent I spoke briefly to the passengers over the PA and told them we were making a precautionary landing and to prepare for a landing.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.