Preliminary report related to this incident has been released
Friday, 13 February 2009 12:33
Potentially catastrophic problems involving the electrical system of a number aircraft have been uncovered Irish air accident investigators.
A month ago 156 passengers and crew had a lucky escape after a fire broke out onboard their Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 while it was en route from Heathrow to Chicago.
The plane was 140 nautical miles west of Galway.
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Today the AAIU published their preliminary findings into the fire.
Shortly after 12pm the cabin crew reported a small fire in the bottom of the waste bin storage compartment of the bar unit in the first class lounge.
Power was turned off in the area but the fire continued.
The crew used five fire extinguishers to try and put out the fire but it did not die out.
The captain declared an emergency and diverted to Shannon where the plane landed safely 30 minutes later.
The investigation by the AAIU found that the cable loom in the bottom of the waste bin compartment had been completely severed.
The loom is made up of 16 different electrical wires.
There should have been two runners installed at the bottom of the compartment to separate the bin from the wires.
There also should have been a protective metal cover over the electrical wires.
In the preliminary report says that the AAIU's initial inspection indicated that none of these covers were ever fitted.
Following the fire, Virgin Atlantic inspected a number of their Airbus A340-300 and A340-600 and discovered 'that a number of these aircraft also had problems relating to missing covers, rail screws and cable routing in this area.'
Significantly, damage to electrical wires was found on another Virgin Atlantic aircraft.
The preliminary report states that while the cause of the wiring damage, which caused the fire, has now been determined 'significant other issues are being examined.'
These include the difficulties faced by the crew in isolating the damaged circuits, the emergency checklist on the plane as well as the standards relating to the modifications to the aircraft carried out for Virgin Atlantic.
Story from RTÉ News:
RTÉ News: Report into Shannon emergency landing