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:

A Frontier Airbus A321 executed an emergency landing in Las Vegas on October 5 due to an escalating, unidentifiable chemical odor detected by crew in both the cabin and flight deck.
During the emergency, the crew donned oxygen masks, declared an emergency, and entered an electrical emergency configuration, leading to communication difficulties with air traffic control.
Upon landing, the aircraft experienced tire explosions and fire around the tires, with the NTSB's preliminary findings pointing to a fault in an avionics bay cooling fan, though no injuries occurred.

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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.