National Transportation Safety BoardWashington, DC 20594 June 29, 2008
NTSB TEAM OF INVESTIGATORS RESPOND TO A GROUND FIRE ABOARD B-767 CARGO JET
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of specialists to investigate a ground fire that erupted aboard a parked B-767 cargo jet last night at the San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California.
About 10:00 p.m. PDT, the flightcrew of a Boeing B-767 (N799AX), operated by Airborne Express as cargo flight 1611, reported smoke and fire just aft of cockpit while preparing to start the engines. The airplane was parked at the time, and all cargo had been loaded. Both flightcrew members exited the airplane safely via cockpit window. The airport rescue and fire fighting unit extinguished the fire; however, a hole had been burned through the crown of the aircraft above the forward galley area.
NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker has designated investigator Lorenda Ward as the Investigator-in-Charge. An aviation systems specialist, survival factors specialist, and fire/explosion specialist will accompany her. The team is expected to arrive on scene this evening.
When I worked for Kittyhawk, certain classes of dangerous goods had to be placed in position one with access from the cockpit. I wonder if that is what happened here.
One of our guys was hanging in the break room, which has a little room full of computers inside,kind of like a little computer closet. There was an electronic fire in the little room and the halon system went off. The halon got into the break room and my buddy said it was the worst thing ever. He says that you CANNOT breathe at all and he barely crawled out of there. He says it sucks all of the oxygen out of the air immediately. He was using that story to illustrate what would happen if the halon goes off in a bin. Made an impression on me!
In its continuing investigation to determine the cause of the June 28, 2008, fire that burned a hole through the top of the fuselage of an ABX Air Boeing 767 cargo airplane parked at San Francisco International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board has developed the following factual information:
The primary location of the fire was outside the cargo hold in an area just aft of the cockpit. The fire was extinguished by San Francisco Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting, but not before causing substantial damage to the aircraft. The flight crew of two, who were preparing to start the engines when the fire broke out, escaped from the aircraft without injury.
The NTSB dispatched a team of five investigators to the accident scene. Joining them were representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Transportation Security Administration; the Federal Aviation Administration; the San Francisco Fire Department; and Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting. NTSB investigators have worked closely with all of these groups throughout the process of examining and documenting the fire damage to the aircraft.
After the NTSB was notified of the fire, it was reported that within a week prior to the accident, the cargo carrier had received a threat against an unspecified aircraft. Preliminary examinations have not revealed any indication of an explosive or incendiary device.
Rob Breid or other: I read your post from Jun 2008. Yes, 2008. I am very keen on gathering incident rate of fires in aircraft hangars. Might you care to talk with me about this? Thanks so much ! (eurekaignem at gmail.com)