go west, gone west
GW,
give it a rest, pal. why are you trying to sensationalize this story?
"The part about leaving everybody on board whilst they assessed the fire situation"
they were making sure that the brakes werent overheated before the a/c taxied itself onto stand. there was nothing dramatic about the situation and the pax were never in any danger. if anything, the fire/rescue overreacted a little. thats ok. better safe than sorry.
from your comments it sounds like you either work for the SAA or GOAA. either way, your comments regarding SFB or wrong.
"Was also surprised at the comment of "aircraft powered itself to the stand". I thought Sanford was all tug operations for getting onto stand."
nope, two of the 12 stands are towed-in stands. a/c taxi on to the stands just like at other airports.
"Surely if routine operation is to tug the aircraft onto stand, they would not let it self park on that same stand after an undercarriage emergency which could well have affected brakes and/or steering."
it wasnt an undercarriage emergency. the aircraft was never in any danger. the aircraft landed close to max landing weight so the fire crew made sure the brakes were ok. the flight crew and fire crew took the 20 minutes or so after landing to determine that everything was ok, which it was. they taxied to the gate, went to the hotel and slept peacefully. let it go.
i think it's pretty safe to say that Charlton Heston wont be starring in this "Airport 2002" movie. (maybe Leslie Nielson in "Airplane 2002")