PIA 747 on fire going into MAN

[Flying Clog]

So I roll up on Manchester Control frequency at 7.30 this morning and there's a PIA aircraft with a cargo fire and smoke on board flying around.

Said pilot didn't sound too happy and when ATC asked if he was declaring a mayday he responded in the NEGATIVE so he got regular vectors in sequence!!! Couldn't believe it. Fantastic bit of airmanship by the sound of it...

Anybody have any more info? Haven't heard of any great big smoking holes in the Pennines so assume he got there in one piece.

[B767300ER]

A 747 with a fire/smoke onboard and no mayday/emergency???

Sounds very familiar to the Saudia L-1011 that was complacent and never declared an emergency for priority handling at Riyadh in 1980.

Dreadful loss of life.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Clog, did I miss something? Did you say he was flying around with smoke, cargo fire et al yet would not declare a MayFickPanDaySecuricor? Where was the airmanship there?

[mainecoon]

nothing in the log at manch centre

but for info if on the ground at egcc just watch these babies going east from uk(espes rway 06)and try to work out how much weight on board with slf+f frightened me when told but from a solid source(still hearsay(they never lie down do they even after split)):rolleyes:

[5150]

Fantastic bit of airmanship by the sound of it...

How did you come to that conclusion! ?

See Riyadh post........top example of what not to do.

[SeldomFixit]

Goodness me Sir but that was no fire, that was the Vindaloo...

[Groundloop]

Fantastic bit of airmanship by the sound of it...

I think you'll find Flying Clog is being sarcastic.

[JJflyer]

I would think that comments about "Fantastic bit of airmanship" can be considered sarcastic in this case.

Actions taken by this particular crew with a fire onborad proves over and over again that one should not deadhead with companies such as PIA. Odds of becoming deadmeat increase dramatically.

Still as all the facts are not known, one should be careful not to judge or condemn a crew too early. Sounds pretty bad work though.

[Flying Clog]

Surprising that no one knows what happened, or has heard anything through the grapevine.

I suppose the crew might have achieved their objective, ie. let's keep it quiet chaps, bad publicity and all that.

Still, could have been VERY messy, and I'm not talking about the vindaloo!

[FL245]

I was at the holding point waiting to cross 24R when he landed. He told the fire services that he had a fire indication, but they inspected it and there was no signs of fire or smoke.

[spitfire747]

NOt being an airline pilot yet i wouldn't know, but i have heard there is a forest load of paperwork to do when landing with a MAY DAY - perhaps he just couldn't be bothered with that and landed normally ???

[A and C]

To hell with the paperwork if you get a fire warning there is only one place to be and that is on the ground as quickly as you can be !.

All fire warnings should be treated as the real thing untill there is NO doubt what so ever that it is a false warning.

[Big Tudor]

Yes, there is a shed load of paperwork associated with a MAYDAY call. However, the point of MAYDAY is to give you a fighting chance of getting on the ground in the first place. To not declare an emergency because of paper-phobia is not only poor airmanship but bloody stupid. :mad:

[5milesbaby]

Sorry to detract slightly, but

"shedload of paperwork".

How much do you have to do really, as in ATC we always slag off paperwork of this nature, but in truth only takes about 15 mins to fill in for the bigger nasties, unless you have replays to endure.....

[Capt Homesick]

Well after my only fire, we were back on the groind by 0715- what with the paperwork and the reruns for everyone from the chief pilot to the AAIB it was about 2230 I got home that night... the lengths I'll go to for a day off! :p

[lomapaseo]

Interesting! All this discussion on what ifs and why's but no verfication that the incident actually occured.

"The facts ma'm, just the facts"

(Joe Friday of Dragnet fame on American telly in the 50-60's)

[Rollingthunder]

Yes, Manchester can be an interesting city. When there, visit the Lowry. Take the tram. I do like Lowry. Something of my soul there.

PIA will be PIA. Have I mentioned my blacklist???

[VS-075]

mainecoon
I have seen the pia 747 take off a few times on 6l from the airport hotel and as you say it seems heavy it uses every inch before lift off non of the other 747's do . do you know any more about the weight. i assume its all legal I would not live in that row of terraced houses at the end of the runway if they gave me one of them.

[spannersatcx]

TOD smoke/fire warning on main deck cargo hold (a/c was a combi) action was taken to determine if the warning was real or false, inspection by crew revealed that it was a false warning i.e there was no smoke or fire.

There's probably not many other 747's taking off from MAN with 400+ pax and 110 tons of fuel onboard either. Hope that helps! ;)

[longstay]

Do they do their own loadsheets ?,cause there aint much runway left when they get airborne.
i agree with 5milesbaby, in reality the paperwork for a mayday consists of an asr with a tick in the appropriate box to file it as an mor depending on which bit fell off ! takes about 15 mins.

Why we are all so concerned about mayday calls is beyond me, it's just a procedure like any other and thats it. I don't really see that if PIA had declared a mayday it would really affect their loads, i for one would think here's a company who take no chances after all they didn't build the aeroplane.

[Propellerhead]

Perhaps a Pan Pan call would have been appropriate in this case. After all, if you have determined it was a false warning then you are not in serious or imminent danger, but there is a condition affecting safety on board. ATC will make the same efforts to get you on the ground, and the fire trucks will still be scrambled, but they won't call out local civilian fire service etc.

Pan Pan seems though to not be used / understood as widely outside the UK.

[aviatorpk]

Any thing is possible with PIA as their crew are in lot of pressure due to duty hrs,pay reductions and few days back one of their B747 landed with bare minimum fuel enroute to opkc at ooms :mad: