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| Date: | Thursday 29 October 2020 |
| Time: | 10:59 LT |
| Type: |  Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 |
| Owner/operator: | Tropicair |
| Registration: | P2-MEH |
| MSN: | 525B-0027 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | 40nm NE of Port Moresby -
 Papua New Guinea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Lihir Island Airport (LNV/AYKY) |
| Duluth International Airport, MN (DLH/ | |
| Investigating agency: | AIC PNG |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot reported an in flight emergency due to a cargo bay smoke alarm.
A safe landing was made and the aircraft was shut down after vacating the runway.
The AIC could not determine what medical substance, if any, was inside the baggage compartment that could have activated the smoke detector. Furthermore, the AIC could not establish whether any other items carried by the passengers in their bags stored in the Aft Baggage Compartment could have caused the smoke detector activation. As the baggage compartment is unpressurized, it is likely that any other substances or simply lithium-ion batteries in any of the bags could have produced a strong vapor or smoke to trigger the Smoke Detector. However, no information was available other than a smell reported by the Operator and the AIC investigators. The smell could not be described any more specifically than just generally a medical substance. When the AIC arrived at the Tropicair base, the baggage compartment had already been cleaned and no longer had any evidence of the source of smell.
Due to the lack of evidence, the AIC was unable to conclude that the cause of the activation of the smoke detector was a result of any contents of the bags in the baggage compartment.
The Operator stated that the Smoke Detector may have been activated by the bleed air leakage from the deformed gasket, which may have allowed bleed air to enter the baggage compartment and cause the Smoke Detector to activate. The AIC determined that although possible, this would be the least likely scenario, considering the other possible causes of smoke detector activation, such as the baggage content scenario discussed above.
With all evidence considered, and the fact that evidence was tampered with prior to the arrival of the investigators at the aircraft, the AIC was unable to determine the cause of the Smoke Detector activation.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
PNG AIC web site.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/P2MEH
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Tropicair/Cessna-525B-Citation-CJ3/5775263
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 17 April 2015 | P2-MEH | Tropicair | 0 | Enroute between Port Moresby and Brisbane | |
min |
| 10 June 2018 | P2-MEH | Tropicair | 0 | Hoskins Airport, West New Britain | |
sub |
| 8 January 2025 | P2-MEH | Tropicair | 0 | Avalon Airport (AVV/YMAV), Avalon, VIC |  |
non |
| 19 March 2025 | P2-MEH | Tropicair | 0 | Port Moresby-Jacksons International Airport (POM/AYPY) | |
unk |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Nov-2020 09:18 | Petropavlovsk | Added |
| 10-Nov-2020 09:20 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Total fatalities, Departure airport, ] |
| 10-Nov-2020 15:47 | Geno | Updated [Source, ] |
| 19-Dec-2021 09:11 | harro | Updated [Time, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, ] |
| 08-Apr-2022 07:49 | harro | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 26-Jun-2023 09:48 | Ron Averes | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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