Air Canada Flight 797

Air Canada Flight 797

An Air Canada DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident.
Accident summary
Date	2 June 1983
Summary	In-flight fire, unknown origin
Site	Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Int'l Airport Boone County, Kentucky, United States 39°02′56″N 84°40′04″W / 39.04889°N 84.66778°W / 39.04889; -84.66778
Passengers	41
Crew	5
Fatalities	23
Injuries (non-fatal)	16
Survivors	23 (18 passengers and all 5 crew)
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
Operator	Air Canada
Registration	C-FTLU
Flight origin	Dallas/Fort Worth Int'l Airport
Stopover	Toronto Pearson International Airport
Destination	Montreal-Trudeau Int'l Airport

Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Montréal–Dorval International Airport, with an intermediate stop at Toronto Pearson International Airport. On 2 June 1983, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 operating the service developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that knocked out most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to an alternative landing field. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, the heat of the fire and fresh oxygen from the open exit doors created flashover conditions, and the plane's interior immediately became engulfed in flames, killing 23 passengers who had yet to evacuate the aircraft.

As a result of this accident, aviation regulations around the world were changed to make aircraft safer, with new requirements to install smoke detectors in lavatories and emergency lighting leading to exit doors, and increased fire fighting training and equipment for crew members.

At the time of the accident, Air Canada had 41 other DC-9s in its fleet.

At 16:20 CDT (21:20 UTC) on 2 June 1983, the Air Canada aircraft, registered C-FTLU, took off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport; it was to make a stop at Toronto International Airport, ultimately bound for Dorval Airport in Dorval, Quebec.

Donald Cameron, 51, was the captain and Claude Ouimet, 34, served as first officer. Both were experienced pilots – Cameron had accrued approximately 13,000 flight hours and Ouimet had 5,650 hours. While flying over Louisville, Kentucky, an in-flight fire started in or around the rear lavatory of the aircraft. The pilots heard a popping sound around 18:51 EDT (22:51 UTC), during dinner service, and discovered that the lavatory's circuit breakers had tripped. It was not uncommon, however, for a plane's lavatory circuits to pop occasionally, precipitated by the volume of passengers using the toilet after eating, so Cameron waited around eight minutes to give the tripped circuits time to cool down before attempting to reactivate them at 18:59.