DELTA MD88 caught Fire

[69flight]

Just saw the "Breaking News" ticker:
A Delta MD88 caught fire on ground in Hartsfield-Jackson. Pax evacuated, fire´s extinguished. More details anyone?

[747newguy]

Something about a hard landing... Time will tell.

[pattern_is_full]

Overheated brakes ignited, at least one tire burst per: Delta plane catches fire at Hartsfield *| ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/delta-plane-catches-fire-960569.html)

and Passengers evacuated after 'boom,' smoke after plane lands in Atlanta - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/28/georgia.plane.smoke/)

[sgs233a]

As I recall, the emergency exit in the tail jettisons the tailcone... That's mainly from looking at safety cards as SLF though.

[pattern_is_full]

why is the tail cone falling off?

DC-9/MD-8(x)/B717 variants all drop the tailcone when the aft/ventral exit slide is deployed:

YouTube - ‪MD-80 Tailcone Evacuation Slide‬‏

727s also have a rear stair, but since the tailcone contains an engine, that part (usually) does not fall off when the stairs are deployed. ;) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Rwr727tail.jpg

[TFlyguy]

Delta Plane Catches Fire at Atlanta Airport - Fox News Video - FoxNews.com (http://video.foxnews.com/v/965082904001/delta-plane-catches-fire-at-atlanta-airport)

Tail cone jettisoned but no slide visible.

And I counted at least 2 pax with their wheelie bags!

[ross_M]

I wish they introduced a fine for people caught with luggage after an evac. Even something as token as $200 might incentivize better behavior.

[alcan60283]

Saw it happen. Aircraft landed with a loud boom, came to a stop on the taxiway after exiting the runway. Fire started around the right main landing gear, and watched the tailcone swing away with no slide deployment. They ended up evacuating through the L1 door slide, and fire crews put the blaze out. Saw the aircraft in the hangar after this mess and it's got some pretty significant fire damage. Airframe will most likely be scrapped. Upper wing skin buckled from the heat damage, and a hole about 1ft by 1ft was torn in the flaps by the tire separating. Glad nobody was injured. Made for an interesting day!

[nitpicker330]

Nice job by the Fire guys flooding up the right engine exhaust area too!! Probably stuffed a million dollar Engine for no reason. You can see foam pouring out like a waterfall. The fire was on the right main gear........

[HalloweenJack]

why are you critising fire fighters doing their job? when they have a report of `back end of aircraft on fire` , the first thought is the hottest part - you know the engine.

as SLF i would be grateful the firefighters are considering all aspects rather than ` oops lets not do this it might cost them money`.

[lakerman]

Tail cone jettisoned but no slide visible.

The problem was the tailcone did not jettison completely, it was still attached by its lanyard, so slide would not be inflated (there is a video somewhere of this but do not have a link) This could have been a problem if the aircraft had been full as the F/A's ( who did a good job) evacuated the pax from the L exits as fire was on the right.
To those that criticise the fire crew, it was a RH gear tyre that had blown, it was also RH flap damage, and I bet a lot of debris down an engine that was probably in reverse at the time.

[nitpicker330]

Boy things change here fast ;)

"their first thought is the hottest part - you know the Engine......"

Maybe so but there first "look" would have told them "right main landing gear"

Never mind, everyone walked away and that's the main thing:ok:

Oh and the hottest part can be the brakes on an Airbus!! They can quickly reach 900c...........( yes I know this isn't a Bus )

[SKS777FLYER]

Nitpicker; boy howdy you should sell your expertise to airport aircraft fire fighters all over the world to manage their jobs. As has been written here all ready, the right engine of a DC9 series jet is downstream the right main landing gear. The landing gear sometimes tosses significant chunks of hard stuff directly down the intake and support pylon of the engine, where there is to be found at times a quantity of flammable liquids.
I am sure from your vantage point you could see what was going on in and around that engine.

[JSCL]

I love MD's as aircraft. Delta will be happy - they get to get rid of an MD and claim insurance on it that will go nicely towards another plane and they can scrap it too. They are ideal for high pax seating and distance coverage for most US carriers to work with. Not worth scrapping when they work just fine

[fastrobert]

I frequently fly on these old Delta MD88s - love the aircraft and have great respect for the very skilled crew who all seem just as emotive about them. It will be a sad day when they finally retire. But note that they are not the oldest aircraft in the Delta fleet: a quick look up on the tail of a 757 from LAX to ATL a few weeks ago saw that Delta first flew it in 1986.

[JSCL]

I think American airlines tend to stretch fleet longer than most eu ones. The older ones in EU are typically turboprop that are held out to last longer, unless that's just my observation of UK operators.

[RobertS975]

I believe that the aircraft in this incident was delivered in 1989. And the amount that the airline could get for an insurance claim on this plane is probably not very much... kind of like getting into an accident which totals a 12 year old car!

[ECAM_Actions]

Just looking at the video - is ground support required to successfully deploy the tail slide? I see it is caught in a net and moved to the side to allow the slide to deploy. In the accident photos however no such convenience exists...

It seems that if the tail cone isn't moved, it fouls the slide. :confused:

[pattern_is_full]

The video was likely a demonstration (and why dent a tailcone on the ramp just for a video? ;) ).

I'd think that normally, with no cart in the way, the cone on the ground would be out of the way of the slide - but in this incident it apparently got hung up on some cables (cart or no cart).

If everything always worked the way it was supposed to, R&N would be a much smaller forum. ;)

[Capn Bloggs]

727s also have a rear stair, but since the tailcone contains an engine, that part (usually) does not fall off when the stairs are deployed.
Evacuees through the rear exit are to don helmets just in case! :E

Landing gear fire. Let's spray the engine. :ok: