Air Mauritius plane catches fire in Delhi, take-off aborted

[vpaul]

Article in the Times of India today......

NEW DELHI: An Air Mauritius plane with 241 passengers and 11 crew on board aborted take off in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon after the pilot noticed a fire in the undercarriage of the aircraft, airport officials said.

"All the passengers and the crew members were evacuated safely," an official of the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, said.

The cause of the fire, which was noticed at around 2.08 pm, is yet to be ascertained. A DIAL official said it could be due to a technical fault in the aircraft. The Air Mauritius plane was to fly to the Mauritius capital Port Louis from New Delhi.

"We are yet to get details on how the fire occurred," the official said. Within hours of the incident, flight (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Air_Mauritius_plane_catches_fire_in_Delhi_take-off_aborted/articleshow/3275968.cms#) movement at IGI airport was reported to be normal.

There was no immediate response from Air Mauritius officials in New Delhi, but DIAL officials said passengers were taken to a hotel (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Air_Mauritius_plane_catches_fire_in_Delhi_take-off_aborted/articleshow/3275968.cms#). "We are trying to get in touch with the airline to know when and how they plan to fly their passengers to Mauritius," said the DIAL official.

[planecrazi]

Any more news or pictures? Did they do a full evacuation on runway...?

All the websites have the exact same news release on the Google, word for word!

[NotPilotAtALL]

Hi,

Bird strike......

It was a close shave for 241 people, many holidaymakers, when an Air Mauritius plane caught fire after being hit by a bird just as it was taking off from Delhi airport on Thursday.

Bird-hit plane catches fire at Delhi airport- Hindustan Times (http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=5b54dc0e-682e-448b-860e-3f746e70ad69&MatchID1=4735&TeamID1=8&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1194&PrimaryID=4735&Headline=Bird-hit+plane+catches+fire+at+Delhi+airport&strParent=strParentID)

Cheers.

[Oxidant]

"Had the fire not extinguished in time or the plane had taken off, it would have definitely blown up either on ground or mid-air. Thankfully, the pilot was smart and did the right thing," an official said.

Ho Hum,......... Was this "official" in charge of anything more complex than an ice cream stand?:ugh:

[NotPilotAtALL]

Hi,

anything more complex than an ice cream stand :)

Well .. you never know how a fire will evolve
Most quickly it is extinct... the better. .. I hear that from a fireman :) :)
So first .. stop the fire...
And after .. go eat a ice cream .

Cheers.

[ecureilx]

I once saw a chopper engine start fire go from zero to a blaze till the airframe was a total wreck ..

fires start and can spread quickly especially on a fully fuelled up aircraft.

Maybe the message was too loud, but better safe than never

[Willoz269]

Can anyone tell me how the passenger saw the bird hit the wheel of the aircraft they were in, and subsequently catch fire????

[maddes]

From reports it appears the bird hit the plane (or vice versa) - the pilot hit the brakes. The brakes overheated and generated caused the small fire as the heavy came to a full stop. Passengers were told the reason for the aborted take-off was a bird strike. So they told the Hindustan Times it was a birdstrike which caused the fire. All correct.

[Raredata]

Didn't know there was an airport at Port Louis.One on the east coast last I was there.

[birrddog]

Airport is in the south. Probably just a journo assumption that the flight would go to the capital of .mu.

I forget the exact name of the area, but it is near blue bay / mahberg (sp?).

Glad to hear all ok. Got some good mates at Air Mauritius.

--
JB

[birrddog]

Was not taking notes so please forgive any inconsistencies in my summary.

A bird strike in one of the engines in the A330 caused the pilot to perform a rejected take off. Due to the ambient temperature in Delhi (>40deg Cel) and the high speed and pressure from the breaking action caused the brakes to overheat and the tires to catch fire.

After the RTO the Tower informed the pilot that there was smoke emanating form the under carriage and the pilot ordered a complete evacuation whilst the fire department put out the fire.

The engine contained the strike though will need to be replaced.

Aircraft is the only 330 at MU and is expected to be out of service for about a month whilst it gets a new engine and the undercarriage is repaired.

CNN had some video footage at Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/07/25/vo.india.plane.fire.evacuate.cnnibn?iref=videosearch)

[birrddog]

TwoOneFour: The twist in the story, of course, is that the aircraft sent to rescue the passengers went tech.

That I had not yet heard, but I was informed that this puts more pressure on their 340 fleet to pick up the work load.

Their second 330 was scheduled to come in November (not sure '08 or '09) so a couple of pilots will be on vacation for a month or so with others who will be working a few more hours.. :}

[dessas]

NEWS RELEASE
Update on outbound passengers of Air Mauritius Flight MK 745
Delhi. Post the bird strike of Air Mauritius flight MK 745 on July 24th, which led to
an aborted take off and passenger evacuation; an aircraft was ferried to fly the
passengers to Mauritius and the passengers were put up at Le Meridien and the
Maurya Sheraton hotels in New Delhi. The senior most Air Mauritius manager in
India, Rajesh Busgheet, immediately flew to Delhi to look after passengers comfort.
The replacement aircraft which was ferried from Mauritius and scheduled to depart
at 6:00 am from Delhi today, regretably was unable to take off due to a technical
fault which is being investigated and rectified by KLM engineers. The delay however
meant that the flight crew’s duty time expired. The passengers who had been
brought back to the airport have been taken back to hotels where they can rest
more comfortably prior to departure, timing of which is to be announced.
Air Mauritius sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers by the delay
but is guided by its uncompromising commitment to the safety of passengers and
crew.
25 July 2008
Air Mauritius is the national carrier of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Created
in 1967, it currently operates a fleet of five A340-300, two A340-300E, two A319-100, one
A330-200 and two ATR72-500. Air Mauritius presently flies to twenty seven destinations in
Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Indian Ocean.

[divinehover]

If the fire was caused by an RTO then there is no chance of there been a in flight fire.