A “liquid-free” zone may appear in the Airbus A350 cabin

Created on 24.02.2020 11:08

In the Airbus A350 cabin, may appear a special area where drinks will be banned. Therefore, pilots would not be able to drink tea or coffee managing an aircraft, according to Simple Flying. Reportedly, such special requirements were issued by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Guided by two incidents, when spilled liquids in a cabin were the cause of shutdown engines, EASA has suggested to consider a creation of a special “liquid-free” zone in the Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 cabins. The first incident happened on November 9, 2019 at Asiana Airlines during Seoul - Singapore flight on the Airbus A350-900. In the air, tea was poured into the central pedestal, followed by the right engine shutdown. The second incident was dated January 21, 2020, when Delta Air Lines was operating Detroit- Seoul route on an Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Liquid in the cabin was also poured on the dashboard, which had led to a shutdown of one engine. Attempts to restart the engine in both cases were unsuccessful. Aircrafts were sent to alternate aerodromes and landed safely.

In this regard, EASA representatives suppose the Airbus A350 is particularly “sensitive” equipment, where the external influence  immediately causes errors in the engines operation. Currently, Airbus management is revising the Flight Manual for this type of aircraft, and  in the near future, the cabin area would be determined where any drinks and liquids would be prohibited. However, such incidents happen not only with the Airbus A350. In September 2019, the Airbus A330-243  was obliged to make an emergency landing because of spilled coffee.

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