Great Barrier-bound plane catches fire?

[Capnmakka]

Anyone know any details, apparently it occured today??

[Ollie Onion]

brake binding on taxi, returned to stand, pax offloaded, pilot tried to put brake fire out but it kept re-igniting due to the heat. Fire service called and brake cooled using dry powder. That about sums it up.

[Capnmakka]

Haha so pretty minor then? News article made it sounds rather drastic. Bloody media.

[LeadSled]

Haha so pretty minor then? News article made it sounds rather drastic. Bloody media.
Folks,
Twice I have seen aircraft burnt out as a result of brake fires (including a B747), it can be a seriously big deal. A dragging brake on an individual wheel can be a particularly insidious problem, it make be very hard for the crew to know they even have a problem, as brake temperature sensing/indicating on individual wheels, and any cockpit warning, is usually found on more recent large aircraft.
Capnmakka, what are you a Captain of, a harbour barge, you certainly don't know much about aviation.
Tootle pip!!

[Ejector]

what was the air craft type?

[NZFlyingKiwi]

It was a Trislander.

[Capnmakka]

hahaha ok mate calm down! What I meant was in this particular instance it was pretty minor and the news media in intial reports blew it out of proportion with incorrect facts, as usual.
Luckily the barges I drive don't have brakes that bind and catch fire.

[remoak]

Fire service called and brake cooled using dry powder.

Ha ha no I don't think so, the cooling effect of dry powder is approximately zero. It does put the fire out though. But then you have to spend a few hours cleaning all the powder out of the brakes...

[baron_beeza]

Certainly is a strange one. The photo shows both tyres still inflated so it is difficult to see what was feeding the 'fire'.

All the Trislanders I have flown or maintained had a standard Cleveland 3 puck unit running on Fluid 41 (5606).

I have seen a Trislander shear a brake caliper bolt before and the whole caliper rotated over and fouled the disk. I think there is a possibility of more damage if the other bolt had gone.
With 3 engines running and taxiing downwind these things can require some braking...
A fire with flames etc would be very rare and it got a hold in the tyres and magnesium alloy wheels then it could get away. Apart from that it could possibly be a brake fluid fire.

No doubt we will see more when details filter through.

[thorn bird]

A Trislander!!! What did they put it out for!!

[haughtney1]

Read the thread header and thought.."why didn't they just leave there gear down"....
Dooh....

[scroogee]

Better photo here: Passengers flee Great Barrier plane fire - National - NZ Herald News (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10810401) (or at least more of an action shot).

Article is mostly rubbish but can be interpreted with some thinking and the 'Great Barrier Mishaps' summary is inaccurate at best.

Noting also that that doesn't look like dry powder the firey is spraying onto the wheels.

[Josh Cox]

A Trislander!!! What did they put it out for!!

Only a person who has not flown the Trislander would say that..........:}

[baron_beeza]

Only a person who has not flown the Trislander would say that..........


I reckon.

I have had the pleasure to work on and fly these in many places about the world.

Certainly a great machine for the operation... it fills a gap in the market that not many other aircraft types can.

On the other hand.... I can certainly understand a passenger thinking there may be too many of them about still. They don't score too many points in the looks, noise and comfort categories..

She's a hard road finding the perfect woman, boy. :)

[Capt Claret]

They don't score too many points in the looks, noise and comfort categories..

Do they score any? :oh:;)

[Blackhander wannabe]

from that photo, looks like it could have been pretty serious indeed. Very lucky.

[ShyTorque]

Civil Aviation Authority spokeswoman Emma Peel said the authority would review the report before deciding if further action was needed.

Wondered where she'd got to these days....

NHbPiPOsj3Y

[baron_beeza]

I am surprised to read the pilot is copping the blame at this stage.
At least we cannot blame the reporting for that.
I feel the tone of the reporting is much better this time... and I know there is a reason for that.. ;)

Thanks Bryce...:D


I cannot imagine tapping the brakes twice to be normal procedure.
I have seen something similar at Kalgoorlie many years ago but the system had been contaminated by brake fluid on that occasion. The affected seals in the park, or shuttle valve had allowed the brake to jam on.

The Auckland incident is an engineering problem.
Ok, the pilot should never have taxied with the issue either but was tapping on a brake the cure, - really..

What management would expect the Pilot to shut down three engines, climb out the co-pilot's door and then knock the brake... all in full view of the passengers.

Perhaps I am being harsh.
Did they mean the pilot could tap on the brake pedal twice to free the brake.
Hardly a fix but if it was that easy why would a pilot contemplate taxiing against a binding brake.

Difficult to comprehend either way. Certainly an avoidable incident and questions should be asked.

It makes me wonder how the LAME cleared the initial defect, - if indeed it was ever written up.

[baron_beeza]

Hi WindNZ, yep I have to agree with all of your post, based on what has been reported sofar at least.

The aircraft is on Air Transport though and is just not a 'normal' GA operation.

I did a factory liaison visit and then a Trislander rating course at Aurigny many years back. They had a large fleet of Trislanders at the time and operated them very much as you would expect a small airline operation.
I can't for the life of me recall the brake system but it did not normally give any problems. It would not be too much different to the Islander installation.
Perhaps we should mention here that it is not normal practice to leave any aircraft parked with the brakes applied.

GBA have attracted a bit of adverse publicity admittedly, - it is a shame as generally a well set-up Trislander should go pretty well.

At least the newspaper reporting seemed more balanced.