Saudi Plane Catches Fire At Zia

[peter991]

Saudi plane catches fire at ZIA

Thursday, 27 March 2008

The engine of a Boeing 747-300 aircraft caught fire during landing yesterday at Zia International Airport (ZIA).

Flight number SV 810 landed safely, and no major injuries were sustained.

Air Commodore Sakeb Khan Majlis, chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said, "About 307 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were safely evacuated through emergency exits of the aircraft."

However, about 15-20 panic-stricken passengers suffered a few cuts and bruises during the half-hour ordeal of descending from the emergency exits, said a security official of ZIA.

Sources at ZIA said engine number three on the right side of the aircraft caught fire as it was landing at around 2:27 pm.

The pilot of the aircraft however landed the aircraft safely near south taxiway and at the same time informed ZIA control tower of the fire. The pilot then opened the emergency exit doors for passenger evacuation.

Fire fighters of the CAAB rushed to the landed aircraft, extinguished the fire swiftly and helped the passengers evacuate the plane.

A security official of ZIA said the accident could have been worse if the engine fire spread to the fuel reservoirs of the aircraft.

The CAAB chairman told The Daily Star that an enquiry committee headed by Wing Commander Kamrul Hasan, director of flight safety, has been formed to investigate the incident and submit its report within the next seven days.

A team of experts from the Saudi Arabian Airlines is also on their way to Dhaka to investigate the incident, he added.

Peter

Note: Please - before some one complains that 'this is not Thailand related,' can I at least ask some of our knowledgeable flight staff two questions:

1) Please read the underlined paragraph. Half an hour to evacuate a Boeing 747-300 aircraft seems far too long. How long should it take?

2) The fire could have been 'worse if the engine fire spread to the fuel reservoirs of the aircraft.' I thought modern aircraft had built-in fire-fighting equipment and in the event of an engine fire the Captain would a) shut down the fuel to that engine and then douse the fire with CO2.

3) The story says the Pilot opened the emergency doors. Did he do this from the cockpit or manually?

Edited March 27, 2008 by peter991

[Farma]

Having flown Saudair many times I can well imagine the mayhem during the emergency.

The majority of passengers would’ve been labourers returning home after possibly 3 or more years away. Most of them would be unfamiliar with the aircraft and airline travel in general.

With the general self self self attitude of the Bangladeshis I’ve worked with, add in panic caused by the fire, passengers not obeying the airline crew, passengers trying to carry all their oversized cabin baggage and 10 litre bottles of zamzam water with them during evacuation, I think you get the picture.

Just how long did it take to put the fire out? Regardless it was a good result with no one killed.

This is a quote from yesterdays Arabnews

“Air force officials and firefighters stationed at the airport managed to extinguish the fire within half an hour and all passengers were evacuated before any damage was done,” said Shakeb Iqbal Khan Majlish, head of the Civil Aviation Authority in Bangladesh.

As a side note, in the days when Saudair flew into Don Muang, I was on one of their flights which arrived at the terminal with brakes on fire. Fire engines surrounded the aircraft and no effort was made to hasten passenger exodus from the plane. In fact we were kept onboard longer than normal before they opened the doors.

[rgs2001uk]

can just imagine the scenario, pretty much like the keystone cops meets the three stooges.

farma, do you remember the saudi air flight that caught fire on take off at jeddah a few years ago, the passengers had lit a fire in the back of the aircraft to make chai (tea).

cant comment on the fire suppresion system of the a/c, but would love to hear what the voice recorder has on it and if sops (standard operating procedures) were carried out.

[Farma]

It’s not my favourite airline. There's plenty of stories to be told about them The most memorable was the guy sitting 2 seats in front of me with his hunting falcon. Every air pocket we hit the bird would stretch its wings out.

I suppose we better get back on topic.

[PhilHarries]

I thought that the evac time for certification reasons was 20 minutes but other board members are welcome to correct that.

However this evac time is established using selected "passengers" and doing it under controlled circumstances with no real emergency situation. Now throw in fire and smoke, elderly and infirm, young children, people ignoring instructions etc and the test time becomes pure fiction.