AVIATION/ SMELL PROMPTS CATHAY 777 TO RETURN TWICE

A CATHAY PACIFIC flight to New York, carrying 184 passengers and crew onboard, made an emergency return to Vancouver and landed on Saturday night after passengers smelled smoke. Then it did it again. Cathay Flight 888 was on International Boeing 777 Service from Vancouver to JFK and was on its initial climb out of Vancouver, when a smell of smoke onboard was detected. The crew leveled off at 9000 feet and landed back at Vancouver, about 10 minutes after their initial departure. The 777 was inspected and released to resume its flight. After 110 minutes on the ground, Flight 888 once again departed for JFK. However, once again, as the aircraft was on its initial climb, the smell of smoke returned. The crew leveled off at 10000 feet and circled back, as seen in the Flight Aware capture above. The aircraft landed back at Vancouver about 20 minutes after taking off. Emergency Services were on standby for both landings, however no smoke was observed and no injuries occurred. The 777 was then removed from service and the flight canceled. In a statement, Cathay confirmed the incidents and said the aircraft is currently undergoing inspection. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board said today that NAVCAN had sent out an alert about the incident and that the TSB would wait to find out more from Cathay’s inspection team later today.