NTSB: ‘Chemical Smell’ Prompted Frontier A321 Emergency Landing

Flight crew said the odor increased in intensity, later describing it as 'burning rubber and/or petroleum products, such as plastics.'

Ryan Ewing

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 at 10:25 AM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

A Frontier A321 in Las Vegas [Credit: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson]

Key Takeaways:

Frontier Flight 1326 made an emergency landing in Las Vegas after the crew detected an intensifying, unidentifiable chemical odor, initially in the cabin and later in the flight deck.
The crew donned oxygen masks, declared an emergency, and faced communication challenges with air traffic control after configuring the aircraft into an electrical emergency.
Upon landing, witnesses reported tire explosions and fire around the tires; NTSB flight data later indicated a fault with an avionics bay cooling fan, though all 197 passengers and crew were uninjured.

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A Frontier Airbus A321 made an emergency landing on October 5 in Las Vegas after crewmembers detected an unidentified odor, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Monday.

The odor was initially noticed by the cabin crew, which described it as a “chemical smell” that was unidentifiable, the agency stated. Flight attendants reported the smell—which was only detected in the forward portion of the cabin—to the pilots before they noticed a similar odor.