UPS 747 Dubai cargo fire report??
 

Is an Accident Report for the UPS 747 cargo fire out of Dubai ever going to be released? (assuming I just didn't miss it...)

Just checked the GCAA website as I'm sure you have done as well, still on "Interim". As you are probably also aware the report was supposed to be released last year, but the wheels grind slowly. Many of us look forward to the final report as much as you and your colleagues do.

Regards

TOD

As promised:

http://www.gcaa.gov.ae/en/ePublicati...013%202010.pdf

Thanks for the head up that one I have just read the First 36 pages this Evening It was most horrible. Back In 1992 I was a SFo on the bae 146 & we had a cabin fire just reaching 29000 ft over the French coast. Lucky for us both of us in this Instance that the cabin Crew managed to put the Fire out & also we both knew Letouquet very well from our early days of Flying . We Dumped It there. We got it on the ground within 15 minutes. I would not wanted to be Airborne much longer than that. That poor Crew did not stand a chance.

I agree, a very sobering read, I was particularly struck about the SFF procedure where the aircraft is depressurised to 25000' to suppress the fire but then somehow you have to land at the nearest suitable airport without the fire being re-energised. Not having experience in freighters myself, the idea of operating a cargo aircraft without any active suppression seems an unattractive proposition. The idea of a FO with 77 hours on a 744F flying single pilot IFR (inside) is a powerful mental image, as you say, poor guys.

UPS announce new cargo units - question over temps
 

Recent press coverage mentions UPS are planning to introduce plastic fire proof cargo containers which can withstand up to 1200f (F) as older containers wear out.

My concern is that Lithium battery fires can exceed 3000F (1200C).

I'm not sure if the commentator or the UPS spokesman has mixed the C with an F, but if the latest cargo containers are only rated to 1200F they will definately not last long.

UPS spokesman made the recent anouncement in this article.
http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...nclick_check=1

Research into what temps of these batteries can actually rise to have been noted on this site.
Allen-Airsafe - Home

Any pilots working for UPS might like to point out to their management what a lithium battery can actually achieve in the temp range of Centigrade.

Press in the middle east have also been covering other factors.
UPS Dubai crash: GCAA final report links accident to lithium batteries - Emirates 24/7