Blaze scare on BA Jumbo: 'Serious' electrical fire sparked by plane's in-flight entertainment system
- The incident happened on a flight between Dallas, Texas, and Heathrow
- British Airways said it took cabin crew five minutes to tackle the fire
- It has been classified as a 'serious incident' by the Civil Aviation Authority
By RAY MASSEY
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Cabin crew on a British Airways transatlantic passenger jet used up five extinguishers putting out a ‘serious’ electrical fire sparked by the plane’s in-flight entertainment system.
The drama happened as the Boeing 747 Jumbo was cruising at 30,000ft over the North Atlantic en route from Dallas, Texas to Heathrow with 275 passengers on board.
The electrical blaze happened in the cabin service’s director’s small office - located under the stairs in the lower level of the jumbo jet - when the control system for the aircraft’s in-flight entertainment system burst into flames.
Fire: The drama happened as the Boeing 747 Jumbo, like this one, was cruising at 30,000ft over the North Atlantic en route from Dallas, Texas to Heathrow with 275 passengers on board. (File photo)
It triggered an alarm and other warning systems.
Cabin crew grabbed extinguishers to tackle the blaze and five were emptied over a five minute period before it was brought under control.
BA said of the emergency: ‘It took about five minutes to fight the fire.
‘It was an electrical fire and they are a little harder to extinguish. I believe they used five extinguishers.’
The drama was classified as a ‘serious incident’ in the official Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) submitted by BA to the Civil Aviation Authority and obtained by the Daily Mail.
That report says the incident is subject to an investigation by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.
Such MOR reports have to be submitted after ‘any incident which endangers or which, if not corrected, would endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person.’
The fire erupted during an eight and a half hour flight aboard flight BA 192 on a Boeing 747 jumbo jet from Dallas.
Emergency: The fire was caused by an in-flight entertainment system (file picture)
The flight left Dallas at 4.45pm on October 13 out of Dallas landing 07.25am next day in London. But details of the drama have only now emerged.
The official ‘MOR’ report refers to a ‘fire’ in the passenger cabin and an ‘electrical smell’ in the cockpit.
It logs the fire as a ‘Serious incident’ adding: ‘In-flight entertainment system (IFE) caught fire in cabin.’
There were no injuries.
British Airways said: ‘Our crew are highly trained to deal with a wide range of incidents. They were able to quickly bring the situation under control and the flight continued to London and landed safely.’
BA denied suggestions that the plane was on the brink of being forced to make an emergency landing: ‘At no time did the flight crew discuss or consider ditching the aircraft.’
It also rejected suggestions among the aviation fraternity that the crew were ‘down to their last two extinguishers.’
London bound: The plane was heading from Dallas, Texas, to Heathrow Airport back in October
A BA spokesman insisted: ‘It is not correct to say there was only two extinguishers remaining after the fire was put out.
'There was a range of fire fighting equipment remaining to provide adequate cover, should it have been required. ‘
He added: ‘Ultimately, this was a small fire that was brought under control very quickly by crew. The flight continued as normal throughout.’
Earlier this month frightened passengers on board a British Airways flight told how they heard their pilot making a Mayday distress call 36,000ft above the Atlantic on November 14.
The captain radioed for help when smoke filled the cockpit of the plane carrying 220 passengers - and accidentally turned on the public address system.
The Boeing 777 was flying from London Heathrow to New York but had to make an emergency landing at Ireland’s Shannon Airport.
No danger: BA denied suggestions that the plane was on the brink of being forced into an emergency landing
After putting on oxygen masks the crew immediately contacted air traffic control. They switched on the cabin address system, and the start of their Mayday call was heard by passengers.
Passengers were told there had been an electrical fault. It is believed the smoke was caused by a fan in the cockpit which overheated.
British Airways said of that incident : ‘We flew engineers to Shannon who inspected the aircraft and it was brought back to Heathrow where it was fixed in the following days, and returned to service.’
Another Boeing 777 - on the same route - made an emergency landing at Shannon five days earlier just an hour into crossing the Atlantic.
Again the cause was a burning smell in the cabin - which is understood to have been caused by a faulty oven.
The Aviation Herald warned that electrical burning was what killed all 229 people on board a Swissair flight over the Atlantic in 1998.
In that case, a fire is thought to have begun in the cockpit and spread to equipment before it could be brought under control.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519705/Blaze-scare-BA-Jumbo-Serious-electrical-sparked-planes-flight-entertainment-system.html#ixzz2monNpn4b
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