Long Beach/Daugherty Field/ Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Long Beach, California 90712
Sunday, August 20, 2006 18:09 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

While taxiing to parking following a normal landing, the cabin crew notified the flight crew that an electrical smelling smoke was engulfing the cabin area. The flight crew simultaneously heard circuit breakers popping and cabin chimes sounding. The flight crew decided that at an immediate evacuation was necessary, and stopped the airplane. The order was given to the cabin crew to deploy the emergency slides and evacuate the passengers. All emergency slides were deployed; there were no injuries incurred during the evacuation. Maintenance personnel noted minor damage to the airplane as a result of a chaffed wire bundle in the mid-cargo pit ceiling at station 750 that had arced and produced smoke in the cabin area. The area was identified as a Boeing-designed and retrofitted over wing heater wiring installation. Engineers for the operator and manufacturer of the airplane determined that arcing was likely due to the left and right over wing heater blanket wiring, that contacted the edge of the wire bundle bracket that attached to the second inboard lighting hole at station 750 in the mid-cargo pit ceiling on the left side. They also determined that the vibration through normal airplane operation allowed the bracket to cut through the wire insulation and then contact was made to the wire conductor and arcing occurred. The operator inspected their entire fleet of affected airplanes and noted one other wire bundle discrepancy. The manufacturer of the airplane identified one other operator with a similar configuration. A service bulletin was issued identifying the problem and provided instructions on adjusting the wire bundles in order to prevent future occurrences.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The over wing heater blanket wiring installation that had chaffed and arced, which produced an electrical smell in the cabin area.

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 8/20/2006
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1809
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Long Beach
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 90712
Event Date Year 2006
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 334906N
Event Location Longitude 1180910W
Event Location Airport LONG BEACH/DAUGHERTY FIELD/
Event Location Nearest Airport ID LGB
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1753 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID LGB
Elevation of weather observation facility 90
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 23
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 14
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 300
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 11
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.87
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 145
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 22714
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Aug 20 2006 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Dec 20 2007 6:59AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-LGB-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N944AS
NTSB Number LAX06IA301
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 121: Air Carrier
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Minor
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name McDonnell Douglas
Aircraft Model DC-9-83
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 53019
Certified Max Gross Weight 160000
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 172
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA Trustee
Aircraft Owner Street Address 200 S Main Street 12th Floor
Aircraft Owner City Salt Lake City
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84111
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Alaska Airlines, Inc.
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Seattle
Operator State WA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code --
Operator Code ASAA
Owner has at least one certificate --
Other Operator of large aircraft? --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not Scheduled
Indicates Domestic or International Flight Domestic
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail Passenger Only
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) --
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code SEA
Departure City Seattle
Departure State WA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1630
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code LGB
Destination City Long Beach
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Taxi - from landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Nov 28 2007 4:23PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --