British Airways flight diverted to YVR after passengers suffer smoke inhalation

[kgoodall]

Not BA but I've seen an Emirates A380 divert to Ottawa before.

[evansb]

There is sufficient runway length and ramp space at Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary to handle A380 ops.

Kelowna's runway length for take-off would be marginal, as would manoeuvring on the ramp. Regarding width, the A380 is approved for 150' wide runways, but 200' wide runways are
preferable.

For Polar routes, in an emergency, Whitehorse and Churchill are doe-able. Yellowknife not so much.

[n5296s]

Many years ago a NW B747 enroute to TYO diverted to CYXJ

And an AF 777 diverted to Churchill (CYYQ) in 2002 - search for "air france churchill" - due to smoke. Churchill normally never sees anything with more than a couple of dozen seats and has no air stairs. They eventually got the pax off with a fork lift.

I once asked a BA 747 captain about diversions, after we had gone into Goose Bay with a medical issue (on this very same BA286, though it was a 747 then). He said "in a real emergency we can get a 747 into a 5000 foot runway, though we may not get it out again".

Back to the topic, I was wondering what has happened to the aircraft? Flightaware shows no movement CYVR-EGLL with a 380?

[notapilot15]

Management doesn't want you to divert to a remote station where they have to pay market prices for passenger accommodation, food, amenities, airport and mx charges. Take it back to where we have negotiated rock bottom prices.

[lederhosen]

I once ended up in Val d'or on a diversion. My canadian friends tried to correct me that it was actually called Dorval.....but it wasn't and they had a forklift too.

[evansb]

Oui, Val-d'Or, Quebec. 10,000 foot runway. 767 Freighters operate in (and out) of CYVO. Curious, what type of aircraft diverted?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val-d%27Or_Airport

[lederhosen]

B767 after lightning strike on approach into Ottawa with Toronto and Montreal reporting CBs. One of the Diefenbacher air force bases, good runway....not a lot else there but trees.

[giggitygiggity]

Perhaps it's runway strength issues that stops the A380 selecting a wider range of alternates. She aint light!

[Grizzz]

YVR did upgrade the south runway specifically for the 380 a few years back. Kelowna does get the odd An-124, not sure what the weight difference is btwn 380 & 124 tho...BA is about to commence the first 380 service to YVR, maybe a little practice was in order. Local news reports only crew members went to hospital, interesting.

[ExXB]

BA have been operating the A380 into YVR for some time now. If you are on Lulu Island, I'm surprised you haven't seen one.

Think they revert to a 744 for the winter but sked shows A380s next summer.

[Jet Jockey A4]

Montreal (CYUL) is also suitable for the A380 because Air France use to operate into Montreal.

[YVRLTN]

Originally Posted by Grizzz

YVR did upgrade the south runway specifically for the 380 a few years back. Kelowna does get the odd An-124, not sure what the weight difference is btwn 380 & 124 tho...BA is about to commence the first 380 service to YVR, maybe a little practice was in order. Local news reports only crew members went to hospital, interesting.

Apart from the inaugural, it has always used the north runway for landings AFAIK, incl last night.

It is parked on remote stand all day today. The stories are really conflicting as to what happened, the most common seems to be food poisoning or some sort of sickness that affected many of the cabin crew - they were sent to hospital but have been discharged today. Another rumour is she is ferrying back to LHR empty and pax are being rerouted back during today by various means, incl via SEA.

[procede]

Originally Posted by Permafrost_ATPL

There are a few suitable airports across the border that would be more practical than YVR

Paine field? ;-)

[rotornut]

For Polar routes, in an emergency, Whitehorse and Churchill are doe-able.

Also Iqualuit where they cold tested the 380:
Frobisher Bay Touchdown Services

[SeenItAll]

TV news in the states reporting PAX interviews that only the flight and/or cabin crew went to the hospital. No PAX involved. Further, some interviewed PAX were peeved that evidently all cabin crew left the plane before any PAX. Still quite mysterious as to the cause.

[evansb]

Ah yes, The Crimson East Route.. Frobisher Bay, CYFB, indeed! Good airport and pleasant staff. My previous posts were restricting my responses and expertise to the western half of The Dominion..


Re the BA A380 diversion, curious why only cabin staff were shuffled off to A&E (Emergency)..the mystery deepens.

Re Paine Field/Everett Washington (KPAE): I get the satire and irony. The airport control tower (and other ops) closes after 21:00 hrs local. Passenger facilities and Customs would have been severely taxed.. But yes, it would have been ironic to have the A380 land at Boeing's home turf.

[Airbubba]

Originally Posted by SeenItAll

TV news in the states reporting PAX interviews that only the flight and/or cabin crew went to the hospital. No PAX involved. Further, some interviewed PAX were peeved that evidently all cabin crew left the plane before any PAX. Still quite mysterious as to the cause.

This seems to be consistent with what the pilots told Edmonton Center well over an hour before landing. They seemed to think that a couple of pax would need to be checked out but all of the casualties were 'crewmembers'.

From my gist of the ATC comms posted above:

When asked what assistance they need on arrival, Speedbird says they need paramedics to meet the aircraft at the gate. They say eleven 'crewmembers' are 'directly affected' by the fumes and a few pax. A little later they say eleven to twelve people total max.

They emphasize that they are fine on the flight deck but will do a fumes on aircraft procedure on arrival.

[fatbus]

Yyz and Yed can both handle a diversion. Non land ASAP could result in a large amount of fuel dump and in that time Yvr became a more viable option.

[misd-agin]

How do they separate the air the cabin crew breathes from the air the passengers breath?

[core_dump]

Originally Posted by misd-agin

How do they separate the air the cabin crew breathes from the air the passengers breath?

The air is the same, but the cabin crew are given a substance that makes them hyper-sensitive to oh-so-deadly cabin fumes. The name of that substance is "union".