Another Boeing 777 engine fire on the runway: 27/06/2016 at Singapore

[Passenger]

Another very serious 777 engine fire on the ground, this time at Haneda (Japan): a Korean Air

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36394938

And once again, lots of hand luggage on the tarmac:







there may be some similarities with "Spectacular British Airways Boeing 777 left-engine fire on take-off roll Las Vegas", see https://www.aviation24.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=56938

[Passenger]

First factual report:

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=187660

[Stij]

At 1st sight damage seems to be contained to the engine...

And yeah, the carry-ons... maybe the overhead bins should be locked when the fasten seatbelt light is on...
People are so selfish these days...

Stij

[Passenger]

Another video, showing the aborted take off run:



Reports:

http://avherald.com/h?article=498e2ae5&opt=0

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=187660

[quixoticguide]

The engine on BA 777 was GE90 the KE is PW4000

[Passenger]

27th June 2016:

A Singapore Airlines B777-300ER from Singapore to Milan Malpensa was enroute at FL300 over the Andaman Sea about 2 hours into the flight when the crew decided to descend the aircraft to FL170 and return to Singapore due to an oil leak at the right hand engine (GE90). The aircraft landed safely on Singapore's runway 20C about 2:20 hours later and slowed down.

While passengers broke into clapping and cheering and the aircraft turned off the runway, a spark was seen at the right hand side causing the right hand engine and wing to catch fire, the aircraft stopped on the taxiway, emergency services sprung into action and extinguished the fire, the crew kept the passengers on board while firefighters doused the fire. The passengers subsequently disembarked via stairs. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage to right engine and right wing.

The airline reported the aircraft returned due to an engine oil warning light, the right hand engine caught fire after the aircraft touched down, the fire was put out by airport emergency services. The passengers disembarked via stairs and were bussed to the terminal.

Source - more info:
http://avherald.com/h?article=49a58209&opt=0

[Stij]

I can imagine: "ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated until the firefighters have put out the fire. There's no need to worry..."

Stij

[Passenger]

I can imagine: "ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated until the firefighters have put out the fire. There's no need to worry..."

Evacuate or not? There are a lot of reactions posted in the Readers Comment on AvHerald.com, many of them by crew stating that an evacuation should have been ordered:
http://avherald.com/h?article=49a58209&opt=0

[Stij]

Makes me think about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudia_Flight_163...

Cheers,

Stij

[sean1982]

If I were the senior on that plane I would have definatly evacuated!

[RTM]

I agree that evacuating that plane should have been done, ASAP.
But, looking at the video, I kind of understand the cockpit crew for not doing so... Thoug I still think it is wrong.
But at the start of the video, the aircraft is still moving. At least the LH engine is still running, and probably the crew is busy with the fire drill and shutting down the RH engine. It takes the fire brigade a minute after the aircraft came to a full stop to get foam on the blaze. By now, the LH engine should be down, and evac started, my opinion... But hard to say what was going on in the cockpit. Beacon is on the whole time, forgotten? or one engine still running? It needs its power from somewhere though... Not powered by the battery's. APU could have been running, don't know... But if LH engine is still on, evac is an nono. But the fire is pushed back within a minute after first foam... So, it probably all went faster than the guys up front realised or could handle. Investigation will reveal what really happened...

[sean1982]

I read somewhere that there was 5 minutes between the fire starting and the firetrucks arriving (although that sounds unlikely). If that were the case LH engine could have been stopped already and APU started. Worst case scenarion no power is needed for an evac cause Emergency exit lights run on battery power and so do the door actuators on the B777. The report will be interesting indeed

[Passenger]

00m01s : aircraft rolls on taxiway, engine is on fire, two engine trucks rush to the front of the aircraft

00m18s : aircraft stops
00m20s : first black smoke
00m26s : sudden & more thick black smoke
00m55s : first two first trucks arrive at the front of the aircraft
01m00s : first fire truck is very close to the back of the engine. Impossible to see action: covered by the black smoke
01m05s : another fire truck attacks fire from the front
01m15s : second fire trucks attacks from the front
01m20s : three more fire trucks attack from the front
01m30s : steps-truck nearing position
01m35s : black smoke dissappears
01m55 : steps-truck on position very close to aircraft
02m15s : fire is reduced substantially
02m45s : another fire truck attacks fire from the back
02m50s : fire is reduced even more substantially
02m57s : video ends

- - - -

This is what Simon, editor AvHerald.com, posted as reply to the comments evacuate or not:

"...Emergency services were in stand by for this landing already, we can safely assume that fire fighters observed the aircraft and gave their recommendations to the crew of how to proceed, and this recommendation may well have been to not evacuate... This is different than to other cases, like the engine fire of British Airways in Las Vegas, where no emergency services were around yet and needed to be alerted with a longer response time.... I am sure that without input from the fire fighters the crew would instantly have initiated an evacuation...."

[RTM]

Worst case scenarion no power is needed for an evac cause Emergency exit lights run on battery power and so do the door actuators on the B777. The report will be interesting indeed

I was talking about the beacon light. It is on the whole time in the video. So the aircraft IS powered. These things do not operate when the aircraft is on battery power alone. So, either the LH engine was still running, wich at least for some time after coming to a full stop is likely, or the APU was running, which is also likely since the RH engine already developed problems during flight. Normally it is switched off when all engines are shut down. This is an indication of safety, also relevant to the firecrew. But I am not going to Judge them if they forgot to switch it off in the heat of the moment. I don't even know if it is in the emergency checklists they used...
BTW, it didn't take 5 min for firetrucks to arrive after coming to a full stop, the video speaks for itself.

I am sure that without input from the fire fighters the crew would instantly have initiated an evacuation....

I doubt that there was a direct communication between the firetrucks and the aircraft... But maybe by the time they were through their drills and checklists, and the LH engine was shut down, so a safe evac could be ordered, the fire was allready mostly contained, and they decided not to evacuate...
I don't know, I wasn't there. But if there ever was a reason to evac, this sure was a hell of a big one IMO...
But the investigation will reveal what happened. Lets not speculate to much. Afterall, everybody is safe. That is the thing that counts.

[flightlover]

I can hardly imagine firefighters aren't able to be in direct contact when an emergency may occur. It would be a loss of time when they had to connect to the intercom when they are called for.

Isn't there a frequency to single out comms with an aircraft experiencing an emergency?

[sean1982]

I don't know, I wasn't there. But if there ever was a reason to evac, this sure was a hell of a big one IMO...
But the investigation will reveal what happened. Lets not speculate to much. Afterall, everybody is safe. That is the thing that counts.

I agree, most airlines give the cabin crew also a decision right to start aan evacuation depending on what they see out of the window. A full right wing blazing with a possibility of the fuel tanks being breached would not give me one second hesiation to say "sayanora"

[RTM]

I agree, most airlines give the cabin crew also a decision right to start aan evacuation depending on what they see out of the window. A full right wing blazing with a possibility of the fuel tanks being breached would not give me one second hesiation to say "sayanora"

And rightfully so, but the point I was trying to make with the beacon light, would you do so when the left engine is still running...? With evacuation slides landing right inside the safety zones for a running engine...? My guess is you wait a second for it to be clear. And if by that time the fire is being contained... I kind of understand why it didn't come to an evac...
Basically, what I see in the video, though that is just an impression, and not a conclusion nor a statement, lets wait for that on the investigators, is that a lack of swiftness was luckily compensated by an outstanding job from the firebrigade.

[sean1982]

I agree, most airlines give the cabin crew also a decision right to start aan evacuation depending on what they see out of the window. A full right wing blazing with a possibility of the fuel tanks being breached would not give me one second hesiation to say "sayanora"

And rightfully so, but the point I was trying to make with the beacon light, would you do so when the left engine is still running...? With evacuation slides landing right inside the safety zones for a running engine...? My guess is you wait a second for it to be clear. And if by that time the fire is being contained... I kind of understand why it didn't come to an evac...
Basically, what I see in the video, though that is just an impression, and not a conclusion nor a statement, lets wait for that on the investigators, is that a lack of swiftness was luckily compensated by an outstanding job from the firebrigade.

True, the beacon light is still running, but we dont indeed know whether or not the left engine was still running.
I would not evacuate into a running engine but sometimes from the cabin it would be difficult to determine whether or not that would be the case especially with an idle running engine. Normally an engine at idle would not ingest a person during an evacuation and I would assume the flight crew would switch it off immediatly when they see the "door" light going on. At least that's how it is for the airline(s) I work(ed) for.

[RTM]

Normally an engine at idle would not ingest a person during an evacuation

Oh yes it will... Especially a big one like this...
Not for all exits though, but I would not like to use door 2 if the engine is running... Door 3 and 4, slides might be blown away... But off coarse, if the situation is dire enough...
Nevertheless, I presume the engine was stopped as soon as the aircraft came to a full stop. The beacon was just an oversight. But impossible for us to determine from the video.

[Passenger]

27th June 2016:

A Singapore Airlines B777-300ER from Singapore to Milan Malpensa was enroute at FL300 over the Andaman Sea about 2 hours into the flight when the crew decided to descend the aircraft to FL170 and return to Singapore due to an oil leak at the right hand engine (GE90). The aircraft landed safely on Singapore's runway 20C about 2:20 hours later and slowed down. While passengers broke into clapping and cheering and the aircraft turned off the runway, a spark was seen at the right hand side causing the right hand engine and wing to catch fire, the aircraft stopped on the taxiway, emergency services sprung into action and extinguished the fire, the crew kept the passengers on board while firefighters doused the fire. The passengers subsequently disembarked via stairs. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage to right engine and right wing. The airline reported the aircraft returned due to an engine oil warning light, the right hand engine caught fire after the aircraft touched down, the fire was put out by airport emergency services. The passengers disembarked via stairs and were bussed to the terminal.
Source - more info:
http://avherald.com/h?article=49a58209&opt=0

Final report for the above Singapore Airlines B777-300ER (9V-SWB) fire:
pdf 6 MB:
https://www.mot.gov.sg/uploadedFiles/Mi ... Report.pdf