Federal investigators on Friday launched a probe of an airliner fire at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that observers speculated could have been sparked by fuel leaking from the plane.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they will be examining whether fuel was leaking from the Venezuelan-bound Dynamic International Airways jet before takeoff on Thursday, as witnesses observed.
NTSB investigator in charge Tim LeBaron told news reporters that the agency’s four-person team will try to determine the root of the fire in the Boeing 767’s left engine.
“I know there’s been a lot people saying that fuel was coming from the airplane,” LeBaron said at the airport. “Well, they saw a fluid coming from the airplane. We don’t know at this point if it was fuel or not.
“So that’s one of the things that we look at.”
NTSB investigators will also examine the airliner’s data recorders, maintenance history and other records.
LeBaron said NTSB will issue a preliminary report in five days, another report in six months and final findings in a year.
NTSB launches probe of airliner fire at Fort Lauderdale airport | Miami Herald