Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 777F (ET-ARH) on fire

[scr1]

At Shanghai Pudong International Airport

facebook.com/AeronewsGlobal

https://twitter.com/FATIIIAviation/status/1285848933034455040

[Uplinker]

Wow. A graphic illustration of Dangerous Goods perhaps?

Thank goodness it happened on the ground.

[Hogger60]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1285860892500881408

https://www.facebook.com/AeronewsGlobal/videos/275455703738542/

A couple of videos

[DGR]

How about we wait for the investigation before assuming that the cause was dangerous goods. Dangerous goods was the assumption for the fire in the Air China A330 in Beijing last year. Except that it wasn't.

[dixi188]

It looks similar to their 787 fire at Heathrow that was caused by Lithium batteries.
Bad luck for a fairly small airline.

[Denti]

Boeing and Ethiopian.. Doesn't seem to fit very well these last few years. Good thing that apparently nobody was hurt this time, just another write off.

[Onions]

DGR. What was the cause of the Beijing fire?

[Enos]

How about we wait for the investigation before assuming that the cause was dangerous goods. Dangerous goods was the assumption for the fire in the Air China A330 in Beijing last year. Except that it wasn't.

Theres just a really good chance it is.
its a rumor site, let people have their say, don’t be so eager to shoot someone down.

[krismiler]

The fire appears to be most intense near the cargo door area where there would be plenty of airflow to feed it, and there is extensive damage further forward along the fuselage. Difficult to say at this stage where it broke out, it could have been towards the centre and spread backwards with the flames intensifying once they met the open air, or it could have been at the door and worked forwards. Obviously the cargo is burning, the initial ignition source isn't known yet. Dangerous goods is a strong possibility, as is malfunctioning loading equipment or a carelessly discarded cigarette butt.

Always take fire warnings seriously, I hope the crew weren't sitting there thinking exhaust fumes from the ground equipment were giving them a false indication.

[Smoketrails]

It looks similar to their 787 fire at Heathrow that was caused by Lithium batteries.
Bad luck for a fairly small airline.
I wouldn't call ETH fairly small....

[Uplinker]

How about we wait for the investigation before assuming that the cause was dangerous goods. Dangerous goods was the assumption for the fire in the Air China A330 in Beijing last year. Except that it wasn't.

Notice that I put a question mark after my remark, so I wasn't assuming, or stating, I was wondering. I will add the word 'perhaps'.

If you were with friends in the pub or at a family do and somebody brought this (or any) incident up, would you say "No, we cannot talk about this or speculate until we have seen the official report"?

[DaveReidUK]

DGR. What was the cause of the Beijing fire?

The final report is still awaited, so any assertions as to what did or didn't cause the fire are simply speculation.

[Stick Flying]

But DGR stated quite categorically it wasn't freight dangerous goods. I guess some thought they had information more than based on rumour. Perhaps they don't.

[j4ckos mate]

Id be staggered if that not a lithium battery incident, knowing the flow of electronic equipment from china, and knowing that the 777 is a great aeroplane

[Ray_Y]

Facts?

The fire started ~4 hours after arrival in Shanghai
16:57L smoke was observed
... FD "responded and extinguished the fire by about 17:01L" (~4 minutes later they responded or had it put out?)
no injuries reported

original source: unknown
was just published on AVH

[Capn Bloggs]

Landscape video, at last! :D

[Longtimer]

Ray_Y

Folks are speculating that it was batteries, why would an inbound flight to Shanghai from Brussels be bringing in Lithium batteries?
Missed the departure bit.
An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 777-200 freighter, registration ET-ARH performing flight ET-3739 from Shanghai Pudong (China) to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), was preparing for departure at the apron, when at about 15:57L (07:57Z) smoke was observed from the aft crown of the aircraft, emergency services responded and extinguished the fire by about 17:01L (09:01Z). No injuries are being reported. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.[/color]
]

[j4ckos mate]

It could have been unloaded and this is export cargo
could be inbound batteries to be fitted to something and re exported

these batteries are overwhelmingly made in places like china,
the stuff we send there is specialist stuff,
alot more likely to have been correctly checked and processed
so i still say its an export and batteries,
thank god it wasnt in the air

[White Knight]

On the 'landscape' video I see another aircraft on approach at about 0:08 into the clip; must be a heck of an RFF setup!

[Ray_Y]

The fire started ~4 hours after arrival in Shanghai
...why would an inbound flight to Shanghai from Brussels be bringing in Lithium batteries?
Think again :rolleyes:​​​​​​

[meleagertoo]

Boeing and Ethiopian.. Doesn't seem to fit very well these last few years. Good thing that apparently nobody was hurt this time, just another write off.
What an utterly ludicrous - and grossly irresponsible insinuation.

How could a cargo fire on the ground have anything remotely to do with gross mishandling of the aircraft by supposedly trained pilots who hadn't been given access to, or taken notice of mandatory safety bulletins, let alone months of international news coverage?

That's just irresponsible, imflammatory **** stirring. End of.

[Pugilistic Animus]

If it's anything like fireworks then one faulty unit on fire could cause a chain reaction, as far as Li ion batteries go.

[Intruder]

Folks are speculating that it was batteries, why would an inbound flight to Shanghai from Brussels be bringing in Lithium batteries?
4 hours after landing, inbound cargo was likely already gone, and at least some outbound cargo loaded.

[procede]

4 hours after landing, inbound cargo was likely already gone, and at least some outbound cargo loaded.

Or they have found a way to make beer and chocolate catch fire.

[lomapaseo]

What goods would be stored in the area just forward of the tail fin?

I am reminded of the DC10 fire at I believe ORD and the Valuejet fire in the Everglades

[zerograv]

That's a very good and very pertinent question ...

Taking a wild guess, and assuming that the aircraft was being loaded, given that the 777 Freighter has the Main Cargo Door on the rear part of the fuselage, which is very useful to avoid "wheelies" on the ramp, they loaded the main deck forward of the main cargo door, then they loaded the "interesting cargo" in the rear ... and did not had time to load the last cargo, which is the one that goes in front of the Cargo Door itself.

[Intruder]

But DGR stated quite categorically it wasn't freight dangerous goods.
It could have been undeclared DG or a quantity of Li Batteries that was less than the requirement for declaration...

[dixi188]

That could be repairable.
Quite a few million $, but could be done. Depends on the market value of the airframe due to age and hours/cycles.

[GKOC41]

zerograv

Best come back and review your comment when the investigation is out.

[SMT Member]

What goods would be stored in the area just forward of the tail fin?

There are 5 (125x96 inch) positions at and aft of the main-deck cargo door (MCD) arranged with 2 x 2 side-by-side and 1 centre position at the far aft. They are, for obvious reasons, usually the first to be off-loaded and the last to be loaded. You can load just about anything there, including 16ft ULDs, except restricted commodities which need to be accessible to the crew during flight.

[dixi188]

Always loaded the radio active stuff at the back.
We had a hi-loader catch fire once due to hydraulic leak. Fortunately it was moved back from the aircraft before it got too bad.

[lomapaseo]

SMT Member

Informative response

What do others think about the possibility of storing spare aircraft servicing parts there in case of an AOG at an off-base. That location might serve as light loads only and off limits to normal cargo

[CargoOne]

lomapaseo

Flyaway spares kit IF carried (normally not) is placed in the belly hold cargo, never main deck.

[Three Lima Charlie]

Ethiopian Airlines Statement on Incident ET-ARH – Shanghai Pudong Airport

Although proper investigation has been started by the country of occurrence and the country of registration and operation, preliminary information revealed that in the final preparation for taxi out, fire was detected in the main deck. The crew reported to ATC and the handling company and asked for help as per the procedure. Meanwhile, the fire spread in the cabin until the handling company and the airport emergency unit arrived at the scene of the incident. The fire damaged the upper structure of the aircraft before it was brought under control by the airport emergency services.

[EDLB]

They should be happy that they did not make it into the air. Would have been very likely fatal so a thorough investigation should be done.

[Flapsupbedsdown]

What is wrong with ethiopian rear part of the aeroplanes?

[Pistonprop]

Latest I just heard from a private source in Shanghai is that it was a "mis-declared" battery shipment. Any official declaration yet?

[lomapaseo]

I wonder what the difference is between declared vs mis-declared battery shipment once it gets aboard an airplane?

[dogsridewith]

Where do used up and recalled Lithium batteries generally go for recycling or landfill, etcetera? I had two lifetime-warranty Rigid Tool batteries go to the their warranty shop with the tool and charger...came back with new batteries. Also a fine-working complicated Swiss electric pruner battery recalled for unknown reason. Dealer sent a new battery after I returned a form with acknowledgement that original would be disposed properly.

[megan]

preliminary information revealed that in the final preparation for taxi out, fire was detected in the main deck. The crew reported to ATC and the handling company and asked for help as per the procedure. Meanwhile, the fire spread in the cabin until the handling company and the airport emergency unit arrived at the scene of the incident. The fire damaged the upper structure of the aircraft before it was brought under control by the airport emergency services.Ethiopian Airlines B777 freighter aircraft with registration number ET-ARH caught fire while loading cargo at Pudong Shanghai airport today, July 22, 2020. The aircraft was on a regular scheduled cargo service from Shanghai to Sao Paulo-Santiago via Addis Ababa. https://www.ethiopianairlines.com/aa/press-releases/statement-on-incident-et-arh-shanghai-pudong-airport-22-july-2020

[Farside]

I hope we come to the bottom of this and will find out what the reason of the fire was, and I hope it was not a bunch of Li ion batteries loaded as general cargo

[BDAttitude]

dogsridewith

Recycling is currently not possible for individual cells.
They are burned ... depending on their size in very specialized blast furnances. In my country, germany, there is exactly one that can handle car seized LiIon batteries if they need to be disposed as a whole, e.g. because their containment has been compromized.
Whenever someone speaks of "recycling" with regard to LiIon batteries they mean remanufacturing by exchanging the worst cells from the pack and treating them as described above. This does make sense, as the least performing cells wear out most quickly, however it does not solve the final disposal problem.

[tdracer]

Farsid

You can hope all you want - if I was more of a betting man, that's where I'd be putting my money.
Assuming the reports are correct and the fire started in the main deck cargo area, there isn't much there that can start a fire aside from the cargo itself - and Li Ion batteries are the most likely culprit.

[Denti]

BDAttitude

That was true a couple years ago, things have considerably progressed. Duesenfeld (https://www.duesenfeld.com/index.html) for example quotes 91% recycling without smelting stuff, including recovery of graphite and electrolyte. However, yes, the focus is currently on larger battery packs especially from automotive and utility level (including individual house battery solutions) installations. Smartphone and computer batteries are usually just smelt down or put into landfills which has considerably follow up problems.

[SMT Member]

I wonder what the difference is between declared vs mis-declared battery shipment once it gets aboard an airplane?

Declared restricted commodities must be packed according to very specific guidelines. For batteries this include the box they're packed in and the quantity of each cell and in each box. By correctly declaring the goods, seperation between incompatible commodities can also be ensured. If you don't declare it, you can illegally pack any quantity you like in any old box you fancy, and unless you're caught or something goes wrong, you'll have saved yourself a lot of money. One of the best known examples is that of oxygen generators, a 3rd party maintenance company and a ValueJet DC-9, but there are plenty others to chose from.

[BDAttitude]

Denti

This is an intresting development, however per this article from November 2019 https://www.faz.net/aktuell/technik-motor/technik/so-werden-lithium-ionen-akkus-recycelt-16454686.html Duesenfeld was still only a small pilot plant with no noteworthy throughput.

[GKOC41]

tdracer

And if there were boxes of PPE onboard wouldn't take much for them to go up.

[Sallyann1234]

BDAttitude

I'm told by someone who has visited the plant that there are plans to scale it up considerably. With talk of trade wars affecting supply of metals, this seems a very worthwhile development.

[etudiant]

Issue is not scaling the plant, it is dealing with the byproduct.
Most rare earths are associated with other radioactive minerals, so processing them generates a huge volume of regulatory issues. Afaik, these have not been resolved at all.