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American Airlines Flight 31, about a half hour out from Los Angeles bound for Honolulu Hawaii made a return and emergency landing in Los Angeles International Airport after a passengers and crew members smelled smoke. Oxygen masks were deployed, but some failed to deploy.<ref> "LAX passengers evacuate jet after report of smoke" WJZ, 5 August 2008</ref> The passengers evacuated via emergency slides on runway 7L.<ref> "Firefighters guide safe jet evacuation at LAX" 5 August 2008</ref> Out of the 188 passengers on board six sustained minor injuries. The Boeing 757 landed about an hour after initial departure from Los Angeles.<ref>Tina Chau, "AA passenger: 'Like a bad smog haze'" 5 August 2008</ref> Fire crews found no indication of a fire anywhere in the aircraft.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson, Ian Gregor, said that he could not recall the last time an aircraft had to deploy emergency slides at an airport.<ref> "American Airlines emergency delays A380's LAX arrival" Aero-news</ref>

At the airport, fire crews were preparing for a publicity event as a new Airbus A380 flight from Emirates Airline was about to be welcomed. Some of the media events were canceled.<ref>[323]</ref>

Airline officials afterwards attributed the smoke to oil leaked from the port engine's compressor which overheated causing smoke, then drawn into the air recirculation system.<ref> "Investigators say leaked oil is the cause of haze on American flight" KNHL</ref><ref> "Oil leak lead to emergency landing at LAX" KTLA News</ref>

Cabin personnel were criticised by the airline for independently choosing to deploy the escape chutes.<ref>Andy Pasztor "American Airlines Flight Attendants Under Fire" Wall Street Journal</ref> In turn this prompted a reaction from attendents arguing that safety demands they be ready to make such decisions and thanks from a passenger.<ref>Jane Wells, "Flight attendants fight back" 8 August 2008</ref> In fact, an American Airlines purser died opening a cabin door on Flight 1291, 20 November 2000 during an emergency evacuation.<ref> "Safety recommendation" NTSB, 8 May 2001</ref> The issue of cockpit to cabin communication during emergency evacuations has received ongoing attention for decades, with several related disagreements between the NTSB and the FAA.<ref> "Emergency Evacuation of Commercial Airplanes" NTSB</ref><ref> "A safety study of evacuations of large, passenger-carrying aircraft", Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Report Number SA9501</ref>

Investigation

The FAA announced on 11 August 2008 that they would investigate why "almost half the masks either did not deploy or failed to provide oxygen"<ref>Dan Weikel FAA to review failure of oxygen masks on American flight at LAX, Los Angeles Times, 11 August 2008</ref> The FAA had recently issued airworthiness directives regarding problems with defective inline flow indicators obstructing the B/E Aerospace oxygen masks on this and several other Boeing commercial aircraft models.<ref> AND passenger AND masks AND 2008 Airworthiness directives</ref>

==References==