Sun Express B737 Makes An Emergency Landing In Toulouse

Sun Express Deutschland Boeing 737-800 was performing flight from Fuerteventura to Dusseldorf, with 192 people on board, when the crew reported an aft cargo smoke indication and decided to divert to Toulouse.

Soon after the crew reported the cargo smoke indication had ceased, nonetheless, they continued diversion to Toulouse and would stop on the runway needing stairs at the runway to deplane the passengers.

ATC advised other departing and arriving aircraft to expect a delay of 50 minutes or more due to the emergency, all departures and landings on both runways were stopped.

During the descent towards Toulouse the smoke indication activated and ceased again, the crew requested stairs at the aircraft as well as ground power unit and a tow truck to pull the aircraft off the runway.

The aircraft landed safely on Toulouse’s runway 32L and stopped on the runway, the crew advised the left hand engine was kept running at idle power, emergency services advised that there was no smoke visible and the cargo doors were not hot, the captain instructed emergency services to not open the cargo doors before all passengers had left the aircraft.

No stairs, no ground power unit and no tow truck were available about 45 minutes after landing, about 60 minutes after landing GPU and stairs arrived.

The left engine was shut down, the passengers disembarked via the stairs onto the runway and were bussed to the terminal. Emergency services subsequently checked the aft cargo hold, then the forward cargo hold but found no trace of fire, heat or smoke.