Ryanair fire at Stansted

[Fast Jet Wannabe]

I've just heard on the radio that a Ryanair 732 has reported fire on the flight-deck at STN, and a full evacuation was carried out.

There are no reported injuries. The flight was due to depart STN for Londonderry.

Anyone know any more?

[schoolkid]

could it be capton wireing?sounds like it.

[MFALK]

Any links to news reports about this incident?

[ottiss]

Smoke in the flight deck and the FO freaked. fireman came up steps with hose. but there was no fire..

[exeng]

schoolkid,

Please don't make silly assumptions based on absolutely zero evidence.


Regards
Exeng

[ottiss]

typical pilot thinks he knows best. bring your nose down out of the air and listen the man on the ground.

[MFALK]

Hi Otiss, took a look at your profile and now I understand why you have such a cavalier attitude to something as serious as smoke or fire on an aircraft.

Simply because you are safe and sound in your office or hangar while it is some other poor chap who has to handle the situation in flight or on the ground with a plane full of passengers behind him... or it could also be simply a case of sour grapes...

[tailscrape]

Absolutely outrageous to say "F/O freaked". I will give u a clue. If I had serious smoke on board, I would look to evacuate very quickly indeed. Remember Saudi Tristar anyone?

If no fire was found we can all start again. If there was fire, at least I am watching it burn from outside the aircraft with my crew and pax, rather than struggling to breathe inside. Fire engulfs a hull quickly and kills quicker.

So, to all of u who may think that their actions were premature....think again.

[tunturi]

Shoolkid and Otiss hang your heads in shame. Even if you are right in any small way so what. There is NOTHING more dangerous than smoke/fire inside an aircraft whether inflight or on the ground. There are numerous examples in addition to the Saudi Tristar already mentioned...737 Manchester; MD11 Nova Scotia and on and on. The really important thing is to take action immediately that smoke/fire is suspected as Tailscrape states.
Schoolkid "it looks like capton (sic) wiring. Does it? From how far away does it look like that.
Otiss I also am a licensed engineer (and am ashamed of you for that)and a pilot and I KNOW I would freak for real no matter how much sim training goes on. One hopes to control the fear on the day but I know it will be there.
Please think carefully, even if you were the man on the ground, before leaping in with size 10s and critcising anyone in such a manner.
A cautionary tale: many years ago when working for Britannia as an engineer in Luton, a pilot who was very visibly shaken after landing a B737 told us that when he selected speedbrake in flight at low altitude he beleieved he got all 8 spoilers up instead of just the 4 flight spoliers as advertised. We muttered reassuring noises gave him a lump of sugar and sent him off to his hotelwhilst thinking (in unision) nah! couldn't happen cos we know the 737 inside out and if the air/ground teleflex cable breaks the worst case scenario was that only 4 spoilers avaialbe on ground as it was designed failsafe. Still we were obliged to jack the thing up in the hangar (real pain on quiet night shift). Once on jacks deployed speedbrakes and yes you are way ahead of me..all f*****g 8 spoiler panels popped up. The looks on the faces of no less tha four licensed engineers (self included) must have been a picture. This turned out to be the first case of the teleflex cable growing in length due to a lose mouse (nipple) on the end of the cable. (design always assumed cable would break not grow in length)..from that moment on I vowed to accept the words of any pilot on such defects until I could PROVE otherwise.
(edited twice because I can't spell tailscrape, sorry. If there others the so be it)
[This message has been edited by tunturi (edited 04 July 2001).]

[This message has been edited by tunturi (edited 04 July 2001).]

[gyrohead]

So was there a fire or what????

[The Guvnor]

Given that a fire can develop from not a lot to flashover in a matter of seconds - and that when Kapton bundles arc they produce temperatures of some 10,000 deg C, my philosophy in a situation like that would be to make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there. As others have said, better to be alive and have people taking the mickey out of you for over-reacting; than to be frazzled and have the AAIB write it up as yet another incident of pilot error.

[FlapsOne]

Smoke = Fire in my book, until someone proves different on the day.

I rather be told I over-reacted later in the day over a cup of coffee (or something stronger!) than ending up like a piece of toast - along with all my pax!

[flugpants]

Also worth adding that if the aircraft was still on stand (and as no-one has mentioned flight phase so far) it is highly likely that there was fuelling going on whilst pax were boarded - as 25 min turnarounds necessitate fuelling while pax disembark/board.
I would have done exactly the same and got my, and everyone else`s, arse outta there tout-suite!

[SKYDRIFTER]

Given the FAA history of permitting known threats - to protect corporate profits - electrical smoke in an American arcraft is worth a bit of serious terror.

The Swiss Air Flight 111 crash should serve as a fine example of a well programmed disaster and a lesson that electrical fires are nothing to fool with. The honest (hidden) statistics on electrical fires on U.S. aircraft are staggering.

In the meantime, The FAA and NTSB are burying incidents and data on a wholesale basis.

In a sentence, be damned frightened when you smell electrical smoke on U.S. aircraft.

The tombstone agency (FAA) quit caring about even tombstones. They won't tell you about it & they damned sure won't do anything about it.

[Crash Barrier]

Maybe someone was trying to frazzle the stupid 'good look Brian!' caption off the fuselage!

[MarkD]

The BB a/c is a 737-800... nice try though :)

[BOEINGBOY1]

anybody here remember the old quote "no smoke without fire" ??? fire breeds smoke folks and remember smoke kills far more people than fire does.
as in the fire brigade moto, if you smell smoke
1, GET OUT
2, CALL US OUT
3, STAY OUT
if i smell or see smoke on my aircraft then its an immediate emergency landing and evacuation on the runway for me.
if already on the ground, then its time to make like linford christie. no exceptions.
if later im proved to have acted in haste coz of some excess oil residue around the aircon pac's or alike, then "what a pity" im alive and so are all my charges. and if there was ever a next time, then i would do exactly as before. i would rather be alive and have egg on my face, that to have to attend all those funerals!

[JAGS2]

Bit of tongue in cheek humour from schoolkid me thinks " capton ( captain )wiring "

[Underdog]

Just for any of you still doubting the seriousness of fire on board. We have been told by our trainers that...

If you have a fire on board and don't put it out within 4 minutes - it isn't going out!

And, if you have that same fire and don't get on the ground in 14 minutes - the fire will do it for you!

OK, so this incident was on the ground - but the consequences could have been no less serious. For any pax lurking on the forum who might be thinking of smoking on any of my flights - think very seriously about the consequences of your actions!

ATB,

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif Underdog

[FiveMilesOut]

IMHO the FO did absolutely the right thing. Far better to 'over-react' then under-react, and suffer the consequences.
It never ceases to amaze me the way people ignore obviously potentially dangerous signals, in an attempt to appear normal. For example I was in a tube recently when smoke started to pour out of the vents. People just sat there reading their papers as if nothing was happening!!
Apologies if a bit long-winded, but again congrats to the FO

[schoolkid]

Did anyone ever hear the saying"where theres smoken theres fire"!!!!

[schoolkid]

exeng.i only said COULD BE so dont freak out so easily.

[mutt]

Schoolkid,

Waterford has a wonderful airport, but you must remember that this is a PROFESSIONAL pilots/aviators/aviation discussion area.

Don't offer comments unless you are sure!

Mutt :)

[Whipping Boy's SATCO]

schoolkid, you appear to be living-up to your name.

Otiss, my vote's with the freaking F/O!

PS. Otiss, be a good chap and go find the fault...........

[airbourne]

I think all sensible people will agree that in the past 12 months we have seen too much death in our skies as a result of crashes. Whatever the problem its always 'better to be safe than sorry' I congratulate the flight crew for reacting so quickly as, as a pax I fly, and place my life in the hands of the 2 guys up front and also take the LDY - STN route often.

What ever your faith may be, take a moment to remember those who were not so lucky this year and in years gone by.

[Herod]

What has everybody got against the First Officer? Nowhere does it say he "freaked". Presumably both crew were aboard, and the captain probably asked the F.O. to get the radio call out while he dealt with cabincrew/pax liason. As a captain myself, in a case like this I would want the F.O. to make damn sure the ground services knew there was potentially a real problem. The "Joe Cool" radio call is DANGEROUS in this situation.

[Underdog]

OK, I'm going to hold my hands up and say that I had a similar incident several years ago at PMI.

I was the FO at the time on an A320. Whilst on stand and being recatered, fuelled etc. the Captain was elsewhere - I believe in the jetty, but it doesn't matter. Whilst I was doing some paperwork on the flightdeck I noticed thick black smoke drifting past the windshield. I opened the DV window to see the source and it appeared to be coming from the back of our aircraft. I put out a Mayday call (the only Mayday I've ever made) then went into the cabin and got the girls and cleaners off via the jetty at the front of the a/c. I went outside to find the fire brigade already arriving on scene.

It transpired that a catering truck at the back of the a/c was the source. Apparently in some failures of a diesel engine they can start feeding off their own sump oil - it will do this until the engine seizes and the engine cannot be shutdown by normal means. This produces a large amount of smoke and there is a significant risk of fire. Anyway, the truck was towed away from our a/c and left until the engine seized and stopped - no damage to our a/c.

I fully support what the FO in the Stansted incident did - his actions should not be criticised in any way - IMHO. If anyone has ever seen (even the edited version of) the videos of the Bradford City football disaster you will appreciate the rapidity with which fire can spread - you cannot out run it!

Please don't underestimate the danger of fire anywhere near an a/c - it is my/our worst nightmare!

ATB

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif Underdog

(edited for typo)


[This message has been edited by Underdog (edited 06 July 2001).]