Water salutes gone wrong: UAE issues verdict in Saudia’s case
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Water salutes gone wrong: UAE issues verdict in Saudia’s case
When pilots landed Saudi Arabian Airlines Airbus A320 at Dubai International Airport (DXB), they had no idea that the flight was going to be greeted with a water salute. Even less so, that the welcoming fanfare will blow open one of the emergency exits and inflate the slide ramp, injuring a passenger along the way.
Causes
The Air Accident Investigation Sector determines that the cause of the Incident was the erratic directional movement of the water jet onto the push panel of the left forward over-wing emergency exit hatch, which, when pushed inwards, resulted in the emergency exit hatch opening and falling into the cabin, slightly injuring the passenger seated in the window seat.
Contributing Factors to the Incident
The Air Accident Investigation Sector identifies the following contributing factors to the Incident:
(a) The fire vehicle’s hand controller potentiometer failed to control the movements of the roof turret.
(b) The process of a water salute had not been formally described and risk assessed by the airport fire service, thus the possibility of erratic water turret movement was not identified.
Safety Recommendations
The Air Accident Investigation Sector recommends that the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority requires UAE aerodromes which allow water salutes to:
SR07/2019
Conduct a formal risk assessment and draft a procedure for the conduct of water salutes, to ensure that identified risks are mitigated so that water salutes can be conducted safely.
SR08/2019
Introduce a routine "dry" turret check procedure, to ensure that malfunctioning turrets are identified during maintenance, or prior to their operation with water or foam.
The Air Accident Investigation Sector determines that the cause of the Incident was the erratic directional movement of the water jet onto the push panel of the left forward over-wing emergency exit hatch, which, when pushed inwards, resulted in the emergency exit hatch opening and falling into the cabin, slightly injuring the passenger seated in the window seat.
Contributing Factors to the Incident
The Air Accident Investigation Sector identifies the following contributing factors to the Incident:
(a) The fire vehicle’s hand controller potentiometer failed to control the movements of the roof turret.
(b) The process of a water salute had not been formally described and risk assessed by the airport fire service, thus the possibility of erratic water turret movement was not identified.
Safety Recommendations
The Air Accident Investigation Sector recommends that the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority requires UAE aerodromes which allow water salutes to:
SR07/2019
Conduct a formal risk assessment and draft a procedure for the conduct of water salutes, to ensure that identified risks are mitigated so that water salutes can be conducted safely.
SR08/2019
Introduce a routine "dry" turret check procedure, to ensure that malfunctioning turrets are identified during maintenance, or prior to their operation with water or foam.
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Sitting on the terrace with a Cuban and some excellent coffee I realized my whole life is dangerously lacking in risk assessment!
Ready for a boat trip but first a piss behind the shed,,,,,,
Never to be seen again!!
Farewell
Cpt B
Ready for a boat trip but first a piss behind the shed,,,,,,
Never to be seen again!!
Farewell
Cpt B
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make sure you perform the “dry turret check procedure” lest you implode the shed’s emergency exit!
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I believe this is a very "trending" incident. Dubai airport is one of the busiest in the world but their fire crew seems to be severely lacking in professionalism despite their loud claims of the opposite. First, the appalling response to the Emirates 521 crash where firefighters managed to "miss" an empty center tank filled with kerosene fumes and then couldn't control the post-explosion fire for sixteen (!) hours. And now THIS!? Each of those fire engines costs in excess of $1.5mil, but they are useless (and obviously quite dangerous) in untrained hands. Maybe remove a few "HRH" and introduce a few "Dr.-Ing" in the company's management?
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Reminds me of the Virgin incident at MAN
A Cathay Pacific Cargo 747 was making its first visit to MAN so somebody decided it would be nice to have a couple of fire engines out for a water salute. The fire engines were positioned well ahead of the scheduled arrival, the weather was horrible (barely above freezing) and the inbound flight was delayed by an hour or two. Eventually, the flight arrived and, while taxying to the terminal, the flight was asked if they wanted this water salute. The very polite answer was "No thank you".
As the fire engines were positioned and ready to go, they offered the same to a Thomson 757. (I can't remember if this aircraft had just returned to the fleet after one of its many leases, whether it was the first day of a new service or what). Whatever, when offered the water salute, the Captain responded with "It is about 3C out there, there is a cold wind blowing and I have just been de-iced. What makes you think I would want 5,000 gallons of cold water sprayed all over my aircraft? No thank you. I don't want a water salute!"
Even the fire engines managed to look dejected as they began their trip back across the airport to their station, still full of the water they had brought out 2 or 3 hours before!
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I believe this is a very "trending" incident. Dubai airport is one of the busiest in the world but their fire crew seems to be severely lacking in professionalism despite their loud claims of the opposite. First, the appalling response to the Emirates 521 crash where firefighters managed to "miss" an empty center tank filled with kerosene fumes and then couldn't control the post-explosion fire for sixteen (!) hours. And now THIS!? Each of those fire engines costs in excess of $1.5mil, but they are useless (and obviously quite dangerous) in untrained hands. Maybe remove a few "HRH" and introduce a few "Dr.-Ing" in the company's management?
