Smoke onboard forced a Lufthansa CRJ-900 flight crew to divert to Italy. But the costly diversion could have been caused by a simple e-cigarette, it now appears.
On June 29, 2021, a Lufthansa Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft, registered as D-ACKK, was involved in an incident when the flight crew reported a technical issue inflight with smoke on board while on a flight from Munich International Airport (MUC), Germany, to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), Italy. Due to the emergency, the jet diverted to the nearest airport, in Pisa, Italy, and blocked the runway for other flights waiting to take off.
According to the Flightradar24.com data, the jet took off at 3.56m p.m. (UTC) and was supposed to reach the final destination a few hours later. But after the plane reached FL390 [flight level], the crew reported an emergency due to smoke onboard.
The flight LH-1912 history showed that the pilots chose to divert to Pisa International Airport (PAS), Italy. The D-ACKK performed two 360 degree circles in order to rapidly lose height and 18 minutes after, the aircraft safely landed at Pisa airport while partly blocking the end of runway 04R. As a result of the blocked runway, 16 flights, which were supposed to take off later that day, were canceled.
According to an update made by Airportia.com, a global live flight tracker website, an electronic cigarette was suspected as the cause of the reported smoke on board. However, Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) has not made public the exact reason for the emergency yet.
It was the first incident of Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) where the CRJ-900 jet was involved.