Thomas Cook B763 near Manchester on Sep 14th 2013, acrid smell in galley

A Thomas Cook Boeing 767-300, registration G-TCCB performing flight MT-2538 from Manchester,EN (UK) to Antalya (Turkey) with 320 passengers and 11 crew, was climbing out of Manchester, when cabin crew switched on the ovens in the rear galley. Three minutes later an acrid smell was noticed emanating from the #3 oven, the oven was turned off and the circuit breakers reset. Although the oven had been disconnected the smell intensified and cabin crew noticed "wispy white smoke" from the sides and top of the oven. Fire Extinguishers were discharged two times, the flight crew declared PAN and diverted to East Midlands,EN (UK) for a safe landing. The aircraft vacated the runway and stopped, fire services entered the cabin and removed the oven. The aircraft was subsequently towed to the apron, where passengers disembarked.

The AAIB reported in their bulletin that there was no evidence of fire in, on or around the oven.

The trays to be inserted into the oven are being prepared by an independent ground service company and come preloaded with the passengers' meals.

A safety pin in the #3 oven, which should prevent the trays from contacting exposed elements at the back of the oven, was found bent.

Examination revealed that two different types of ovens were installed on the operator's Boeing 767s, one being 11mm narrower than the other. It was found, that the meal trays could be easily inserted into the larger oven but needed some force to be inserted into the narrower oven.

The occurrence tray inserted into the #3 oven was found damaged and too big for the oven.

As safety action as result of the occurrence the operator identified a new insert compatible with both types of ovens.