Virgin Emergency at SNN

[wxjedi]

From RTE website

Plane lands at Shannon after cockpit fire
Sunday, 11 January 2009 13:13
A Virgin Atlantic plane has landed safely after being forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport.

The plane was travelling to Chicago from Heathrow when a fire broke out in the cockpit.

Tom

[alexmcfire]

VS039?
Virgin Atlantic Airways - Popup (http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/flighttimes/flightstatus/getFlightStatusResults.do?flightnumber=39&flightDate=2009:01:11T00:00:00&departureAptCode=LHR&arrivalAptCode=ORD&refer=/flighttimes/flightstatus/index.jsp)
What was it, A340 or B747?

[captplaystation]

After Swissair 111 I wouldn't wish to make light of it, but truly " a fire broke out in the cockpit" :eek: or ,smoke in the cockpit. Not nice, very alarming, but not a fire (yet) ? ?
Or maybe it was, in which case Thank God it didn't happen a couple of hours later.

[wxjedi]

RTÉ Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster (http://www.rte.ie)

Clare Fire Brigade has said says there was no fire in the plane's cockpit as had been reported.

The problem centred around a small amount of smoke coming from electrical wiring in the galley area of the plane.


tom

[206Fan]

What was it, A340 or B747?

News says it was a A340!

[GreenZeroOneZero]

It was G-VELD.

[coefficientoflift]

From Irish web-site....


A Virgin Atlantic plane from London to Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing today after a suspected fire broke out in the cockpit.

There were 156 passengers onboard the Airbus 8340 when it diverted to Shannon Airport at around 12.30pm.

"There was a suspected fire in the cockpit," said a Shannon Airport spokeswoman.

The plane was en route from Heathrow to O'Hare Airport in Chicago. Paul Charles, Director of Communications for Virgin Atlantic, denied there was a suspected fire in the cockpit.

"The pilot decided to make a precautionary landing at Shannon. We don't know what it is yet, but I have spoken to the captain and it definitely was not a fire," he said.

[Otto Nove Due]

An 8340....that's obviously a journalist who hasn't a clue about planes and has misinterpreted what he/she heard! :rolleyes:

[stansdead]

Well done guys. A safe outcome.

[j_davey]

rte news showed the fire services in attendance with their hoses inside the forward cargo hold..... Could have been avionics bay rather than galley.

John

[mojave]

G-VELD is still at Shannon as of 1800z. The Shannon website showed a planned departure time of 0905z this morning. There have been further planned departures at 1215z and 1415z that have not gone ahead.

[cloudbasezero]

I bet the Virgin ops guys are loving this new flight watch system !, its more up to date than the old BA FICO aircraft movements. :ok:

[airbourne]

The Irish Daily Star reported yesterday that the 'jumbo made and emergancy landing' at Shannon. Aww, bless! You have to love the tabloids!

[raveng]

Nothing wrong with FICO, just the people who use it!!!!!:p

[MissTheo]

No G-Veld is an Airbus A340-300, they rarely use the 600 to ORD

[pfm1000]

Preliminary report related to this incident has been released

Friday, 13 February 2009 12:33
Potentially catastrophic problems involving the electrical system of a number aircraft have been uncovered Irish air accident investigators.
A month ago 156 passengers and crew had a lucky escape after a fire broke out onboard their Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 while it was en route from Heathrow to Chicago.
The plane was 140 nautical miles west of Galway.
Advertisement

Today the AAIU published their preliminary findings into the fire.
Shortly after 12pm the cabin crew reported a small fire in the bottom of the waste bin storage compartment of the bar unit in the first class lounge.
Power was turned off in the area but the fire continued.
The crew used five fire extinguishers to try and put out the fire but it did not die out.
The captain declared an emergency and diverted to Shannon where the plane landed safely 30 minutes later.
The investigation by the AAIU found that the cable loom in the bottom of the waste bin compartment had been completely severed.
The loom is made up of 16 different electrical wires.
There should have been two runners installed at the bottom of the compartment to separate the bin from the wires.
There also should have been a protective metal cover over the electrical wires.
In the preliminary report says that the AAIU's initial inspection indicated that none of these covers were ever fitted.
Following the fire, Virgin Atlantic inspected a number of their Airbus A340-300 and A340-600 and discovered 'that a number of these aircraft also had problems relating to missing covers, rail screws and cable routing in this area.'
Significantly, damage to electrical wires was found on another Virgin Atlantic aircraft.
The preliminary report states that while the cause of the wiring damage, which caused the fire, has now been determined 'significant other issues are being examined.'
These include the difficulties faced by the crew in isolating the damaged circuits, the emergency checklist on the plane as well as the standards relating to the modifications to the aircraft carried out for Virgin Atlantic.

Story from RTÉ News:
RTÉ News: Report into Shannon emergency landing (http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0213/virginatlantic.html)

[Cyrano]

AAIU preliminary report is here. (http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0213/airbus-report.pdf)

[Biggles225]

It sounds very like polyimide or 'Kapton' rearing its ugly head again! Perhaps people have forgotten its less than damage tolerant arc tracking properties, but we'll see.

[Nocti]

I thought Kapton was outlawed after the Bucanner crashes a few years back?

With a little chaffing the Kapton dust proved to be a small pile of explosive material when the wiring wore through to arcing with the airframe.

Can't believe that it could ever be approved again.

Then again, with the right brown envelope anything is possible.

[mini]

Anyone know where the original conversion work was done?

[Skydrol Leak]

13 FEB 2009 AAIU finds electric wiring problems in A340 fire incident investigation

Related links » Airbus A340 safety profile (http://aviation-safety.net/database/type/type.php?type=024)
» Accident description (http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=58461)


Irish air accident investigators released a preliminary report regarding an incident involving a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 en route from Heathrow to Chicago in January 2009.
A small fire broke out in the bottom of the waste bin storage compartment of the bar unit in the First Class area. The fire was located in a hole in the floor of the compartment. The crew noted that a damaged electric cable loom appeared to emanate from this hole. Arcing was observed in the hole. Crew members used fire extinguishers but they could not put the blaze out. An emergency landing was carried out at Shannon.
The Investigation found that the cable loom in the bottom of the waste bin compartment had been completely severed and bore strong evidence of burning/arcing. The loom in question consists of ten wires in a protective sheath, six wires carrying 28 V DC and the other four carrying 115 V AC. This wiring provided power and dimming circuits for “mood” lighting which is recessed into the bar unit counter-top. Initial indication was that the lower edge of the metal waste bin made contact with the wiring loom. Information from drawings provided by the Operator indicated that two runners should be installed in the bottom of the compartment to keep the bin above the wiring loom, thereby avoiding contact. Furthermore, a protective metal cover should be installed over the loom in the bottom of the compartment. No evidence of the presence of the loom cover or rails was found. Initial inspection indicated the possibility that they were never fitted.
A fleet inspection of the Operator’s A340-300 and A340-600 (which have a similar bar unit fitted but a different part number) aircraft found that a number of these aircraft also had problems relating to missing covers, rail screws and cable routing in this area. Damage to the loom was found on one other aircraft.

[vapilot2004]

Kapton is still being used in all Airbus aircraft with the exception of the A380. Boeing models built prior to the mid/early 1990's also used Kapton. Later builds and the 777 and 787 do not use Kapton insulated wiring.

[Biggles225]

As I'm fast suffering from 'wheneye' - it seems that the lessons of the 80's seem to have been forgotten, or is it more 'familiarity breeds contempt'?

The party line was always that Kapton is/was OK as long as it was installed correctly, kept clean and dry and not jumped on! Should you forget any of that and go for too tight bend radii or wiggly looming, throw in a splash of hydraulic oil and a touch of chafe - it was :mad: lethal!

IIRC there used to be a couple of videos that graphically demonstrated 'arc tracking', one for aircrew that was somewhat less dramatic than the groundcrew one, it might be time to resurrect them!

[LandIT]

Following incidents such as SR111, how can this possibly happen...

Quoted from a report on Flightglobal.com
Initial inspection of Virgin Atlantic's long-haul Airbus fleet, after a fire emergency on an A340-300, has found a number of aircraft missing wiring-protection components in the area of their on-board bar units.
The 11-year old A340 involved had been en route from London Heathrow to Chicago O'Hare last month when it diverted to Shannon with a small fire and electrical arcing in the waste-bin storage compartment in the first-class bar area.
Ireland's Air Accident Investigation Unit discovered that a 10-wire cable loom for the bar's "mood lighting" had been completely severed, with evidence of contact from the bar's metal waste-bin.
Two runners are supposed to keep the bin away from the wiring loom, which is also meant to be protected by a metal cover. Neither of the components was found by investigators.
"Initial inspection indicated the possibility that they were never fitted," says the AAIU, which points out that the bar unit is a specific modification to the Virgin long-haul fleet.
Inspection of the carrier's other A340-300s and -600s found that another aircraft had damaged to the wiring loom, and that "a number" of the jets also had problems relating to missing covers, runner screws and cable routing in the bar area.

Unquote.

NEVER FITTED!

[vapilot2004]

So it appears in this case anyway, Kapton was not the issue.
Lead dress and routing support were.