Local video . . . Berry Aviation website
One injured as a Dornier 328 caught fire this morning inside the Berry Aviation Hangar in San Marcos Texas. Four other aircraft received smoke damage?
Berry Aviation had just completed installing a new interior in Dornier 328-100 N458PS, registered to ‘Wells Fargo’. A cleaner was working on the new interior when a fire broke out.
Berry Aviations hangar was destroyed, the fire burned for 10 minutes, fire crew were able to save four aircraft.
N458PS while in US Airways Livery
I would bet that the aircraft didn’t really operate for Wells Fargo.
More than likely it was owned by WF leasing and operated for some other party. If you search registration records you will find most banks “own” lots of aircraft.
Dornier 328 N458PS had been withdrawn from use by PSA Airlines and stored at Kingman, AZ in 2005. It was lated moved to San Marcos, TX. In the hangar of Berry Aviation the Dornier would receive a new interior prior to its intended delivery to Cirrus Airlines as D-CIRM.
How can it be N458PS? On the video on demand site from KVUE.com, I can see the plane, at 10 sec., behind the burned one. The Do328 looks fully intact, maybe another 328 was vanished.
The APU looks like one from an 328, also the fin.
Very good spotting, it was the news that reported it as N458PS, but as you point out, that is the aircraft sitting there.
Berry Aviation actually own 3 Dornier 328’s and service several more.
Hate when this happens, but thanx for pointing it out.
Rob.
It is bad to see that another 328 is gone, because I worked on nearly 80% of the fleet, when they was in production at Oberpfaffenhofen.
Those are such sweet airplanes. FAST!
The plane should be N457PS, serial 3048 former PSA Airlines.
Thanx, I did receive an email stating the press release had been a typo, and as you state, the correct aircraft is N457PS.
AINonline report;
A flash fire in the hangar at Berry Aviation in Austin, Texas destroyed an executive confirgured 30-passenger Dornier 328 turboprop that was undergoing an extensive interior refurbishment.
A Spokesperson for Berry Aviation said the Dornier had been completely stripped of its old interior and a worker was using a variety of chemical products to remove sealants and other materials.
James Hobizal, director of safety for Berry said, “fans had been placed at both ends of the cabin to provide ventilation. The worker, who was in the cabin when the fire broke out, received minor burns and, after being taken to the local hospital, was back at work in the afternoon”.
“The only things salvageable,” said Hobizal, “were both engines, the propellers, most of the avionics, the landing gear and interior components that had been removed for refurbishment. He added that there was no fuel on board the airplane at the time”.
There was no damage to nearby aircraft and pressure-washing is expected to eliminate extensive smoke damage to the hangar.
OK, who wants to bet that the subject worker was Jonesing for his Marlboro moment and forgot that the fumes surrounding him had reached the LEL?
They were (“were” meaning US airline service)!! Bad timing I guess, because they were really hitting the scene when the regional jet revolution was in full effect. I remember Air Willy dumped theirs real quick for a CRJ fleet. Too bad, great aircraft!