DL30 - Incident: Delta A333 near St. John's on Oct 22nd 2020

A Delta Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration N806NW performing flight DL-30 from Atlanta,GA (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 59 people on board, was enroute at FL390 about 260nm west of St. John's,NL (Canada) when the crew reported smoke in the cockpit and decided to divert to St. John's, the crew requested (and was cleared for) runway 29. While in contact with Gander Center (Canada) the controller reported they have had four or five reports of smoke in the cockpit with Moncton Center, smoke from the Colorado wildfires had gotten into the jet stream and it may be just that for DL-30 too. The crew acknowledged and continued the diversion landing safely in St. John's with emergency services on stand by about 45 minutes after leaving FL390. Emergency services inspected the aircraft and found no trace of fire, heat or smoke.

The aircraft remained on the ground for about 3.5 hours, then continued the journey and is estimated to reach London with a delay of 3.5 hours.

On Oct 27th 2020 the Canadian TSB reported:

the flight crew smelled a wood smoke odour in the cockpit. The flight crew contacted cabin crewmembers, who confirmed smelling the odour in the cabin as well. The flight crew subsequently declared an emergency, began descending and completed the quick reference handbook (QRH) procedure for smoke and fumes; however, the odour did not dissipate. Following a discussion with company maintenance personnel, the flight crew decided to divert to CYYT where the flight landed without further incident.

Maintenance personnel inspected the cabin, cargo, and avionics compartments and reported no finding of smoke or haze. No faults were recorded by aircraft systems.

On 22 October 2020, multiple flights across eastern Canada reported the detection of smell related to smoke carried aloft at high altitude in Canadian airspace, which originated from ongoing wildfires in Colorado.

Related Flight: DL30, Delta Air Lines News