A report released today by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft and Rail Accidents (GPIAAF) provides important insights into an incident that occurred on March 11. The report reveals that the A321neo aircraft took off from Lisbon bound for London’s Heathrow Airport at 15:46, and by 16:20, while in Spanish airspace, the cockpit was informed by the chief cabin crew member that one of the crew working in the rear of the aircraft was experiencing nausea.
The GPIAAF explains that “with no indication or evidence of smoke or odors in the cockpit, the crew decided to maintain flight level and wait five minutes to assess the situation.”
“Given previous reports of odors in previous flights on the aircraft, and as other cabin crew confirmed similar symptoms, the flight crew decided to divert to Porto airport, following the procedures prescribed for such circumstances, including the use of oxygen masks,” states the GPIAAF.
During the aircraft’s descent, and already in contact with Porto airport, “some passengers reported symptoms, and it was decided to declare an emergency and request medical assistance upon arrival to prevent possible delays in service delivery,” the organization reports.
The landing “occurred without incident, and passengers were disembarked,” with the seven crew members and two passengers being “transported to the hospital for medical evaluation.”
The GPIAAF notes that “prior information from the flight crew about previous odor issues on the aircraft involved referred to the same day on the two previous flights.”
On the first flight from Lisbon to Funchal, there were reports of “strange odors in the rear area of the aircraft.” In Funchal, maintenance services conducted an inspection of the two engines and the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) “with no abnormalities reported,” while on the second flight, from Funchal to Lisbon, “strange odors were reported at takeoff, although they reportedly disappeared soon after.”
“Between the March 11 incident, which led the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Porto, and the return of the aircraft to regular service on the morning of March 14, the operator’s maintenance services conducted troubleshooting work for the reported anomaly in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations for such situations, without conclusive results,” reveals the GPIAAF.
The report highlights that TAP carried out a positioning flight from Porto to Lisbon with technicians onboard to try to isolate possible sources of odors, “also without conclusive results.”
In Lisbon, the GPIAAF adds, “a detailed inspection was conducted on the two engines and APU with no trace of fluid leakage that could have contributed to contamination of the pneumatic system.”
Furthermore, “several decontaminations of the pneumatic system were performed, and there have been no reports of other events on the aircraft since its return to service.”
“In the operator’s occurrence database for the same aircraft, on November 11, 2024, there was a recorded water spill in the hold associated with the transportation of fish. Corrective actions included cleaning the area without removing the hold slats. According to the operator, the aircraft has not undergone any deep interventions involving the removal of hold slats since the date of the mentioned occurrence,” the GPIAAF details.
The investigative body states, “it cannot be ruled out that the odor incident on March 11 could have originated from, or been contributed to directly or cumulatively, by the November 2024 event.”
The GPIAAF notes that there were 1,249 reports of such occurrences in the European database in 2024, indicating that it is a matter of attention by the industry, investigative organizations, and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the European regulator.
