I simply am left speechless. Reading of the Asiana accident and now the Ethiopian incident I have noticed some rather backhanded remarks concerning the fire services and the decisions made by airport authorities. To me it simply beggars belief.
I realize that one cannot get on his high horse and exlude those posters who are not operators/maintainers/controllers etc., but for those who have spent more than 18 seconds on an airport ramp (or looking down at one from the tower cab) will realize that if there is a fire as there was at LHR then I certainly expect a full, even overkill, response from the fire brigade.
Fuel lines, other aircraft, service vehicles, fuel farms, terminals etc. are all within flames reach. Best shut the operation down and unwind it when safe.
At least four times in my flying career I have had to "roll the trucks." Two of these times there was actual smoke in the cockpit (once closing down runway 18 in FRA much to the delight of the gents behind us...) All four of those times the brigade was on the spot as fast as possible--much to my eternal gratitude. Had they sent one truck too many? I cannot remember but if so good. For had things turned for the worse they would have needed them plus backup.
I have always appreciated the give and take of PPrune--one only need to look at the ongoing discussion regarding the repair of composites--but for some reason this really stuck in my craw. LHR emergency response proved its merit a hundred times over during the BA 38 accident--I will trust them implicitly to roll what equipment they think is necessary to deal with the problem at hand.
I have also been on a ramp when a fuel truck exploded--fortunately with no loss of life. Want to know what all that fuel does as it spreads all over--I will leave it to the fire crew to answer that but I will give you a hint as to why with multiple emergencies going that LHR ops shut the airport down. A very wise move IMHO.
Last edited by Uncle Fred; 14th Jul 2013 at 02:12.