Originally Posted by
gtseraf
They were VERY lucky this did not escalate into a catastrophic event with many fatalities.
I'm not convinced of that.
IF the fire had been left burning for an extended length of time (a-la Air China) then yes - absolutely - no question about it.
BUT - that WASN'T the situation here. The difference being FD crew knew that rescue services were just seconds away, with the mother-load of fire-fighting capability.
Watching the Air China video the tank explosion happened MUCH later into the burn.
So:
1. Knowing that passengers & CC were safe at that moment
2. Knowing that very capable rescue was only seconds behind (I think they were spraying foam in under a minute)
3. Not knowing if outside the aircraft would still be a safe environment as the last of the passengers evacuated (if they were to evacuate immediately)
4. Knowing that the window of opportunity for an evacuation was still open (and with rescue services assistance) if they "sat tight" (watching the Air China evacuation demonstrates that)
I think it adds up to a reasonable decision on the basis of the incomplete information that we have. I doubt it can ever be a 100% "safe" decision either way - but I dispute that this excellent outcome was down to just "luck" (reinforced to me by the photos I saw of the damage (a lot less than I expected) leading me to suspect that the fire wasn't as intense as it looked on the various videos due in part to the way cameras over-expose the bright portions of scenes like that).
I'll be especially interested to read if there was A1 fuel burning or just oil, or a mixture of both.