Boeing 747-100 N479EV

Summary

On 2 October 2003 at about 07:40 local time, a Boeing 747-100 registered N479EV was involved in an incident near Lyon, France. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 October 2003 at 07:40

Classification

Incident

Location

Lyon, France

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing 747-100

Registration

N479EV

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kuwait City → Frankfurt

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04IA010

Nobody was injured.

An undetermined malfunction in an aircraft system while in cruise flight leading to a fire in the engine number four B Loop portion (Card A16) of the fire detection controls cardfile.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

While the aircraft was in cruise flight at flight level 400, the right wing overheat light illuminated. The crew accomplished the appropriate checklist, and then about five minutes later the engine number three and engine number four B fire loop indicators illuminated. Soon thereafter an acrid odor was detected by the flight crew, and smoke was seen coming from behind the P-6 circuit breaker panel. The crew then became aware of a small fire in the fire detection card file, which they extinguished with a hand-held fire extinguisher. The crew then diverted to a nearby airport and completed an uneventful precautionary landing. The post-event investigation revealed that the fire detection card for engine number four B Loop fire detection (card A16), and its associated socket connector, had suffered severe thermal damage to include partial destruction. A series of tests and examinations were not able to detect evidence of any specific anomalies in the A16 card, the card file, the card file protection circuit, or any of the aircraft's systems. There was no evidence of a lightning strike being the initiating event, and the aircraft has continued in service since the time of this event without generating any other maintenance discrepancies known to be directly related to the fire detection card files.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.