NTSB Identification: LAX01IA066
Scheduled 14 CFR 121 operation of DELTA AIRLINES INC.
Incident occurred DEC-29-00 at HONOLULU, HI
Aircraft: Lockheed L-1011, registration: N735D
Injuries: 300 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On December 29, 2000, about 2115 hours Hawaiian standard time, a Lockheed L-1011, N735D, operated by Delta Airlines as flight 219, experienced an electrical fire forward of the flight engineer's station while en route from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. The flight was about 2 hours out of Honolulu, and continued for an uneventful landing, arriving at the gate at 2330. There were no injuries to the airline transport rated pilot, commercial rated co-pilot, airline transport rated flight engineer, 10 flight attendants, or the 287 passengers. The regularly scheduled domestic flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 and an instrument flight plan was filed. The flight originated at San Francisco at 1910. The flight was cruising at 32,000 feet msl in clouds at the time of the incident. A few minutes before the incident the flight was experiencing a phenomenon called Saint Elmo's fire. The phenomenon is a discharge of static electricity often seen on airplanes flying through or near stormy weather. Static electricity from clouds collects on the airplane structure and discharges from sharp points in the form of visible light. This activity lasted for about 3 minutes, after which an arc was observed at the location of the windshield heat wire bundle above the first officer's side window. The crew donned their smoke goggles and masks. Two of the windshield heat circuit breakers had opened and the crew opened the remaining breakers. The panel covering the wire bundle area was opened for application of a Halon fire bottle on the burnt area of the bundle. Post incident examination of the affected wires revealed electrical arcing had occurred between the airplane structure, an Adel clamp, and a 30-wire bundle, with burning occurring to 20 of the wires. The wire bundle passes behind the flight engineer's station and overhead to the heated windshield.
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