Cockpit fire forces NZ plane to make emergency landing

[YesTAM]

From The Australian ABC





Cockpit fire forces NZ plane to make emergency landing

By Peter Lewis
Passengers have praised the actions of the crew of an Air New Zealand Boeing 737 which was forced to make an emergency landing due to an electrical fire in the cockpit.
There were 122 passengers aboard Air New Zealand Flight 476 from Wellington to Auckland, including Communications Minister David Cunliffe.
"It's always interesting when the pilot comes on and says we've got a problem and I have to put this down as quickly as I can, and by the time he spoke there was a pale mist that smelt of a burning plastic smell," Mr Cunliffe said.
There was more drama with the crew aborting the first approach, unsure the landing gear had locked down before safely touching down at the Ohakea Air Force Base.
"The passengers all took it with stoicism and good humour," Mr Cunliffe said.
Authorities are investigating what caused the midair mishap.

[Longtimer]

Emergency Ohakea landing for 737
NZPA | Thursday, 3 May 2007

More than 100 passengers including several members of Parliament endured a nervous time tonight when smoke in the cockpit of their Air New Zealand Boeing 737 forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Ohakea.


Emergency services from Palmerston North were called to assist the local Ohakea crew when word of the impending emergency landing came from the plane.

Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson said 122 passengers and crew were onboard the plane en route to Auckland from Wellington when the pilot turned back about 100km north of Ohakea.

"The pilot decided to divert to Ohakea because the crew smelt smoke."

The emergency landing had gone smoothly and all the passengers got off the plane without incident.

One News reported MPs including Murray McCully, Richard Worth and Mark Gosche were among the passengers.

Mr Jamieson said an Airbus A320 was being sent to Ohakea to take the passengers to Auckland. One News reported it would depart about midnight.

Engineers were also travelling to Ohakea to try and find out what had happened to the 737.

Passengers were being accommodated in a gymnasium at the airbase until the new plane arrived.

Ohakea Base public information officer Paul Stein said the flight had landed about 9.30pm and had been parked up waiting for engineers to arrive.

[BOAC]

Do we know for sure whether there was a fire or just smoke? Also do we have a more precise location for the source of the smoke/fire? If they were having problems with greens it could be a bus short somewhere which can be very nasty.

....... and don't bother with the 'there's no smoke without......' routine.:)

[Sobelena]

Hmm, just how bad was it I wonder? They couldn't have been too worried if they went around due to the gear indication. Surely if they had a serious smoke/fire problem it would have been a case of get it down quick, gear or no gear!

[Few Cloudy]

That is a very important distinction BOAC! In my book these are the worst two emergencies you can get.

In the case of the Swissair MD11 however the smoke became fire during the event.

Sobelena,
One problem with electrical smoke checklists / QRM is that whole areas of electrical circuits get turned off and this can lead to a no greens situation in certain cases.

Another reason for not seeing the greens is the smoke itself, which can get very dense.

Either way Terra Firma is the best place to be in these situations - but the man in front has to make his decisions based on best knowledge at the time.

Trouble is that these cases are kept very quiet by the airlines concerned (see the SAS MD80 and other cases recently) so that the rest of us cannot profit from the experience.

FC.

[Got the horn]

I think the moral of this story for this incident is to keep the lid on your coffee cup!