Emirates A330 Diversion with Inflight Fire Chennai (MAA) 01 Oct 2003)?

[UNCTUOUS]

Looking for any follow-up info on this one (email [email protected])

Mid-air drama preceded Emirates emergency landing

By T. S. Shankar



CHENNAI OCT. 2. After a preliminary probe by the Regional Controller of Air Safety department at the Chennai airport, a grounded Emirates Airlines jet, which made an ``emergency landing'' here on Monday with a ``fire warning'' in the cargohold area, was cleared to take off for Dubai on Tuesday night.

Though all 398 passengers on board had a miraculous escape even as the pilot noticed the ``fire warning'' alarm mid-way through the flight, an hour-long, mid-air drama preceded the full ``emergency landing'' here, according to airport sources.

The jet was flying at 33,000 feet on a cleared Dubai-Singapore route. When the aircraft was flying at about 170 nautical miles east of the Chennai airport, the Air Traffic Control tower authorities here received a ``May Day'' call on the emergency RT channel, the sources said.

Within minutes of their hearing the SOS, the air traffic controllers, established contact with the pilot and told him that he could set course to Chennai. Consequently, all operational agencies were alerted and a full emergency was declared for the aircraft to make a landing.

But when the aircraft was flying at 80 nautical miles east of the airport, the pilot sought Chennai ATC permission to hover for some more time, saying the ``fire warning alarm light had gone off''. However, a few minutes later, he again radioed a ``May Day'' call, seeking clearance to set course for returning to Chennai and land on a priority basis.

At one stage, the sources said, the Emirates Airlines jet, with the ``fire warning'' emergency in the cargohold, made a steep descent at more than 6,000 feet a minute, putting on hold all other traffic at different points mid-air and keeping the air traffic controllers on tenterhooks for nearly an hour.

Later officials of the Regional Controller of Air Safety began a probe into the cause of the fire.

An independent enquiry by an engineering team of the Emirates Airlines from Mumbai and Dubai has collected material evidence.

from this link (http://www.hindu.com/2003/10/03/stories/2003100304720500.htm)

[Muttley Crew]

As far as I know, first of all, it was not an A330.

Secondly, and more importantly, it is dead and buried.

If you're not a muck-raker, you should at least make an honest attempt to get the facts right.

And if you are then ** **** ********.

:eek: :ok: :*

[BOEINGBOY1]

Mutley, dont be an utter moron.
What ever happened to learning from others mistakes ?

[Muttley Crew]

boeing boy you get the benefit of about 5 hours worth of heineken and scotch...

Learning from others' mistakes? You really think the true facts of the event are going to emerge on this WEBSITE?? Did you read any of the ravings that were posted when the event took place?? Are you a complete and utter freaking idiot??? Did you think before you typed your CR@P???

And who said it was a mistake anyway??? Spanker...

If you want to LEARN from others, read the crash comics... oh, hang on, they don't print one in the UAE. Ok well, if you worked for Emirates you could read summaries of the various events in the weekly safety reviews.

But if you think you'll get a balanced view here on pprune then you are a lot stupider than I can possibly imagine and that is pretty low. A lot of armchair experts aired their views back when it happened. None of them were in the cockpit of the airliner during the event. Now you open your big mouth and suggest we can all learn something from their anonymous and patronising tidbits of advice. Give me a break. Go back to your PPL lessons my friend... and while at it, GFY (in case the *s confused you.)


:*

[SecurID]

then you are a lot stupider

Ding Ding, round one! Despite the correct reference to the aircraft not being an Airbus A330, Muttley makes a grammatical error and is held to the ropes! BOEINGBOY1 takes the gloves off and... POW!

...and ONE.. and TWO.. and THREE and ........!! (Try 'more stupid' next time) :hmm:

Despite the bickering between two, supposedly professional aircrew, the quest for information regarding a recent event concerning an Emirates aircraft is thwarted by personal attacks.

BOEINGBOY1 (I love these pseudonyms!) is quite right; learning from other's mistakes is fundamental to the new role of flight crew in the modern flight deck environment. The initial request for information by UNCTUOUS, a true sycophant if ever there was, may well have been a genuine fact finding mission, but on this type of forum one has to remain circumspect. However, I do fly for the company involved and I personally have no idea what happened to the B777 over VOMM. So perhaps the original posting by UNCTUOUS will help to enlighten us all.

I refer again to BOEINGBOY1's comments:

What ever happened to learning from other's mistakes?

(Corrected for grammar; the inclusion of an apostrophe in the possesive 'other's' and no space between the question mark and the preceding noun.

If we are going to act and be referred to as an intelligent group of professionals, let's write like one. ;))

[UNCTUOUS]

Well apart from the drunken rant-rave by Muttley Crew, all we've uncovered is that he was driving the said A3?? and doesn't want the matter raised again. From that I'll asume (sycophantically or otherwise) that it was a fiasco - not that I'd heard one way or the other.

The reason that I want to know the outcome details is that Airclaims are interested in unreported inflight fire incidents of this nature viv a vis the forthcoming battle over what the FAA thinks ETOPS should be. A simple request drives one member's regrets over the edge - well, sorry about that, but one's M.E. masters were never easy to please.. even when nothing went wrong.

When I was flying in the Middle East I guess I drank more than was good for me too. When I left I sorta quickly lost the taste (probably because I'd fallen in love with my own home-brews and everything after them never tasted the same). So there's hope for you yet Muttley Crew. You may not end up bashing at the AA door screaming to be let in. You might just lose your taste for it (and hopefully gain some taste - and decorum).

[BahrainLad]

I didn't realise A330's could hover these days. Airbus are clever.....

[A300Man]

Muttley Crew

You are one of the most obnoxious visitors to these boards that I have ever come across. Whether intentional or not, your tone and use of excessively irrational language and expletives is not really appreciated by myself and my fellow postees.

I would respectfully suggest that if you cannot conduct the debate in a healthily constructive manner, then it is best not to participate at all.

Dont' shoot people down for simply asking questions about incidents or situations which are of interest to THEM. That is what PPRUNE is all about.

Best regards,
A300Man

[StressFree]

Muttley,
Oh dear - how embarassing, you've really let yourself down......

And you have the front to call others 'spankers' and invite them to GFY........ Such utter shame and humiliation, I hope the hangover was worth it.

:rolleyes:

[Fox3snapshot]

It has been assumed here that mistakes were made, are we talking about the fire detection system, are we talking about the loading of dangerous cargo incorrectly, are we talking about hold lighting that combined with its intense heat and proximity to flamable products will combust....yes these questions are very important and yes it is important to the industry to find out what has happened to prevent further occurances.

I guess why the reaction from Muttley, whilst possibly a little terse, was because it is intimated that the crew screwed the pooch (so to speak) and we all react to that esspecially if the people are associates, known to us or good friends.

It is dissapointing that there is such a closed safety culture here in the Middle East, and as that is the case best leave this one alone as it will go nowhere in this forum and it will end in tears.

:ugh:

[A300Man]

Hear Hear Fox! Best left alone.

[ia1166]

if you wanted to leave it alone, why did you pontificate in your earlier drivel a300 man?

[OVERTALK]

Sycophants pontificating. Mein Gott!

Any harm in someone who might know the facts elucidating us?

a. The fire was in three non-colocated diplomatic pouches in the cargo hold (or baggage area) (doesn't anybody find that a mite suspicious - although they may have been choc-a-bloc full of red-hot info on Weapons of Mass Distraction)

b. Said diplomatic baggage is security-check exempt (that's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's boys' area of expertise - and obviously still open to all manner of rogues who may have access to Diplomatic couriers - and not necessarily as an instrument of the correspondent Government's policy).

c. Which leads me to ask: "Is such an exemption appropriate in this day and age?" What say you mr TSA?

d. Is Emirates still lugging such luggage for our exempted diplomatic corps world-wide?

e. Do all airlines honour security exemption on diplomatic pouches?

f. Are diplomatic couriers allowed to remain personally unfrisked? (if so are more indepth measures taken to ensure that they really are who their ID docs say they may be).

I'm sure that others may have similar questions.

[yardman]

Hey Mutt,

Take a chill pill man. Life is too short. You're going to explode one day if you keep this up!:8

[Muttley Crew]

Yes, yes... very bad form, that. But I did say it was after a big night on the sauce. Still...

So apologies to everyone I offended, which seems to be everyone. And especially to boeingboy1, for my bad language, hot-headedness and needless aggression.

My head is hung in shame. As penance I shall leave my shameful ravings out airing for everyone to see, like so much dirty linen.

I felt that the previous thread on the topic caused a lot of consternation to those involved and got carried away this time. I fully support learning from previous incidents and accidents and have done so myself on many occasions. No doubt I will continue to.

Once again, sorry chaps.

PS When I surfaced the next afternoon, I tried to "edit" it, somewhat, but seemed to have been locked out, for some reason.

At least the professor was there to bring me back to earth with a lesson in grammar...

[wagtail23]

MUTT

Thanks for the apology....nice to see some one admit their error :ok:

I hope the hangover was worth it :O

And for all those who need to know it was a B777, an A330 can carry a max of 374 pax so there would be standing room only for the other 24!!

For more info on this UNCTUOUS, try browsing for it in the ME forum from Oct and you'll find all the arguements there.

[UNCTUOUS]

Nothing detectable over that period in this forum (using all the likely search terms - but feel free to prove me wrong). However the often vituperative thread at

this link (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103952&perpage=15&highlight=777%20fire&pagenumber=4) labeled EK Cargo Fire (on Rumours & Threats) was possibly the one that you are referring to.

However it doesn't address any of the points that OVERTALK brought up on the last page. That was the area of interest (from both a safety and security point of view).

regds
UNC

[Muttley Crew]

Well it didn't last long.... here I am pissed and posting again. And slouching forth staggering and with drunken flailings to settle an old score. Have to be careful of Securid's grammar.

Problem is I can't remember at whom I'm pissed off this time. Hang on, lemme scroll down for a sec...

Oh yeah, here we go..... shame and humiliation??? That's the beauty of an anonymous forum together with alcohol, I already can't remember why I was so ashamed last time! !!

Funny, the word "forum" always makes me think of that arty section at the back of Penthouse.

I will, however, behave, lest I "let myself down" as someone pointed out. I wonder if Professor of English Grammar Securid is happy with my typing so far. Probably not. He'd have to be a pom.

And why DID A300 man pontificate earlier on??? :yuk: :* :cool: :O :E

and to the rest of you....... heh heh heh HEEEEEHHHHHHHH (http://www.barbneal.com/wav/uncat/mutlylaf.wav) ! ! !

[A300Man]

And your point is.......?

[UNCTUOUS]

I think Muttley Crew and I went to boarding school together. He was the one we always sent out for the booze but he never ever came back until daze later. ....and always had a perfectly reasonable excuse why.
That was why he was always sent - because the rest of us were such a bunch of teetotalling pious gits with great regard for our kidneys.

Good to see that he hasn't changed. Muttley, let me know when the cirrhosis sets in. I always keep a spare kidney in the freezer for any old mate that might need one.

UNC

[homesick rae]

ahem...don't you mean Livers?:hmm:

[UNCTUOUS]

Damn. Yes I did
Exactly the sort of balls-up as when I went to the medicO and asked for the circumcision (or at least I thought that's what I meant to say). Explaining it in any greater depth to a medical man would've been gelding the lily (I thought at the time). Regretted ever since not being clearer about what I wanted. I'll spare you what happened when I had my appendectomy.

"Say what you mean and mean what you say" may be OK for some people - but some of us are always far too busy repairing the damage done by getting the first bit wrong to ever get around to the second part. It makes life very discontinuous (or do I mean disconnected?). I forget now where I was headed with this......

It's like when I proposed to the wife. Had a message for her and at the last minute forgot what it was - so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. First time we'd met too. "Life's a bitch and then you die". I think I might have gotten a letter wrong in that too. I really like pithy sayings - but I can never remember their punchlines. I may have to stick with aphorisms.

If nobody wants that kidney then , I think I'll chuck it back in.