In February 2020, a Spirit Airbus A319 experienced electrical issues while approaching Sacramento, California. This ultimately resulted in a total electronic power loss, forcing the flight’s crew to deploy the auxiliary power unit (APU). Having initially rated this as a serious incident, the NTSB has now downgraded the occurrence to merely an incident.
The flight and aircraft involved
Spirit Airlines flight NK1818 was, and remains, a daily scheduled service that originates as Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Nevada. Its destination is California’s Sacramento International (SMF), with Frontier and Southwest also flying this route.
On February 15th, 2020, an Airbus A319-100 registered as N521NK was rostered to operate Spirit Airlines flight NK1818 from Las Vegas to Sacramento. According to data from ch-aviation.com, it first joined the US-based ultra-low-cost carrier in June 2006. After periods away at Mandala Airlines and Windjet, it rejoined Spirit for good in December 2012.
The aircraft’s capacity stands at 145 passengers. 135 of these are in economy class, with the remaining 10 being situated in Spirit’s four-abreast ‘Big Front Seats.’ The flight was just over 77% full on the day in question, with 112 passengers and five crew members onboard.
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A total electronics loss
According to The Aviation Herald, Spirit Airlines flight NK1818 began experiencing issues on February 15th, 2020 while descending through 6,000 feet on approach to Sacramento. These ultimately resulted in a full loss of electronic power. As is customary in such situations, the pilots were able to provide supplementary power by switching on the jet’s APU.
Considering the potential severity of the situation, the crew asked for the airport’s emergency services to be on standby for its arrival. The aircraft ultimately touched down safely on runway 34L at Sacramento, a landing strip that has since been renumbered as 35L.
Having vacated the runway, the aircraft stopped and shut its engines down. The crew then opted for it to be towed the rest of the way to its gate following the electrical failure. Following this, all passengers disembarked normally. Nonetheless, the NTSB rated the occurrence as a serious incident, and opened an investigation into what happened.
Incidents vs serious incidents
It is now nearly two years since this occurrence took place. However, it still remains of interest to the NTSB. According to The Aviation Herald, it noted today that it had reclassified what was previously a serious incident as just an incident. The NTSB summarized:
“Spirit Airlines flight 1818 (…) lost all electronics while on approach to Sacramento International Airport (SMF), California. The flight crew switched to auxiliary power and the airplane landed uneventfully. The airplane was towed to the gate, and passengers deplaned normally.”
But what exactly is the difference between an incident and a serious incident? This is a topic that Simple Flying explored in 2021, finding that Skybrary defines serious incidents as those “involving circumstances indicating that there was a high probability of an accident.”
Meanwhile, incidents don’t carry this probability of damage to property or injuries and loss of life. These are key features of severe occurrences categorized as accidents.
What do you make of this incident? Have you ever flown with Spirit Airlines on its Las Vegas-Sacramento route? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
