Whoops — A Spilled Drink in the Cockpit Caused a Delta Flight Diversion

A Detroit to Seoul-Incheon Delta flight was recently diverted after the right engine shut down.

What caused the problem? you may ask.

Birds?

Nope.

Maintenance?

Apparently not.

A beverage spilled on the Delta A350 cockpit’s pedestal is blamed for starting the whole situation.

“A drink was spilled in the cockpit approximately 15 minutes prior to the engine shut down itself,” Binge Post writes. “The liquid ended up on the middle pedestal between the (two) pilots, close to a panel that’s used to control and start engine works.

“Following the search motor shut down, pilots attempted, unsuccessfully, to resume it. This was when they decided to divert into Alaska.”

The flight diverted to and landed in Fairbanks, apparently without further issue.

No word on who exactly spilled the beverage (on-duty pilot, jump seater, flight attendant delivering the drink, etc) or what it was (water, coffee, tea, soda, juice, etc).

Here’s an interesting tidbit: drink spills in cockpits have been linked to two more Airbus flight diversions within the past year: one another A350 and the other an A330.

(Are Airbus widebody cockpits like a beverage Twilight Zone or something?)

FlightGlobal’s David Kaminski-Morrow reports that the other incident took place in November. An unidentified carrier flying from Seoul to Singapore diverted after tea was spilled on the center console, and one of the Rolls Royce engines shut down.

The A330 incident, he says, occurred “last February during which a Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A330-200 was forced to divert to Shannon after a coffee spillage in the cockpit led to significant radio communication problems.”

Airbus and Rolls Royce are investigating the A350 incidents.

Binge Post added:

Marc Rochet, the president of French Bee, a Paris-based budget airline using the all-A350 fleet, advised Business Insider cabin and cockpit crews are especially trained on how best to take care of fluids near controllers to prevent a similar episode in their A350s.

“We left a broad instruction to our team several months ago due to the central engine controllers,” Rochet explained. “The cabin crew can’t offer any drink into a cockpit team member at the middle region of the cockpit. They must pass it around on the side.

“Years before, the controllers were completely mechanical. If you spilled water, then you’d only wait for it to dry, then it’d be OK. Now it is all computers, and computers and liquid don’t match.”

The next time you spill something, just think: it could be worse.

— Chris