NTSB DCA21LA208 — 2021-08-23 · SeaTac, Washington, United States

Current FAA registration · N479AS

Make / Model: BOEING 737-990ER
Year of manufacture: 2015 · 6 years old at event
Engine: CFM INTL CFM56-7B27E
Seats / Engines: 222 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date: 20150715
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A5E29A

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N479AS Boeing 737-990ER Serious

Probable cause & findings

The passenger’s use of the evacuation slide resulted in the serious injury.

Factual narrative

Even though an overheated passenger cell phone was put into a battery containment bag (BCB) by the cabin crew, a large amount of smoke remained in the cabin with a strong acrid smell. As a result, the captain commanded an evacuation on taxiway A spot 6A at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Seattle Washington. One passenger broke their elbow while descending on the evacuation slide. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-(general)-(general)-Related operating info

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_DCA21LA208.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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