Fuel leak behind Air India flight fire

by lisha | September 4, 2009 at 02:43 pm

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AI plane engine catches fire, 21 injured
4 Sep 2009, 1648 hrs IST

TIMES NOW has learnt that 21 passengers have suffered minor injuries while being evacuated through inflated slides, six of them received medical treatment at Air India medical centre after an Air India plane caught fire while taking off.
213 passengers and 16 crew members had a narrow escape at the Mumbai airport today (September 4) after an engine of Air India's Riyadh-bound plane caught fire while taxiing for take-off.
Aviation sources tell TIMES NOW that a fuel leak aboard the Riyadh-bound Air India flight led to the fire onboard the jet aircraft. It is said by sources that the fuel leaked from the wings of the aircraft where the fuel tanks are located. It is also said that the fuel from the wings trickled on to the wings and the heat of the engine caused the fire. However, aviation sources said that there was no technical snag.
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) and Air India had claimed that no one was hurt in the incident as the blaze was put out immediately. The passengers were evacuated through emergency exit chutes of the Boeing B 747-400 aircraft which was brought to a halt on a taxiway and the emergency drill activated.
All passengers of AI-829 flight are safe, they said. The incident occurred this morning at around 1050. All the stranded passengers are being sent by another aircraft to their destination, the airline spokesperson said.
TIMES NOW spoke to air safety experts who expressed shock over the incident.
Air Safety expert Vipul Saxena said that it was shocking that a commercial flight was allowed to fly without proper maintenance checks. He said these lapses needed to stop.
Kapil Kak said it was a providential escape for the passengers. They were lucky the fuel leak was detected on the ground. He also said a detailed probe was needed to find out what went wrong.
Following is the ordeal of the Air India plane that began at 1:30 in the night last night.
1:30 AM: Passengers board AI 829, Mumbai- Riyadh
2:00 AM: Flight develops technical snag, passengers deboarded
2:00 - 10:00 AM: Passengers spend night in airport terminal
10:18 AM: Passengers board replacement aircraft
10:22 AM: Fire noticed on right engine
10:22 AM: Plane grounded
10:27 AM: Passengers evacuated using slides
There are still many unanswered questions.
Unanswered question 1
1) Was the replacement aircraft below standard?
Unanswered question 2
2) Were the service procedures overlooked?
Unanswered question 3
3) Did strife between management and employees over salaries lead to engineering crew taking shortcuts?

Source: timesnow.tv

{ In spite of so many overrun accidents in wet conditions in India, they are not prepared to modify their procedures. Accidents do not happen due to a single reason. Several events lead to a dangerous situation, and a system has to have several checks and balances to prevent an accident.
Several recent events in the Indian aviation sector show up the system in poor condition. A good and safe international aviation standard system would address the root of the problem and find a permanent solution. But there seems to be a technical, mechanical snag all the time. Let us hope that these errors and lapses do not prove costly for human lives, as people around the world are scared to travel by air. And, we don't think that the aviation sector can afford this? Everyday, newspapers report announcements of aircraft orders, start-up airlines and expansion of the existing ones or we get news about some crash, runway incident, or engine fire or dead bodies in the wheel of the aircraft? Everyone fails to address is the total lack of `trained' and qualified technical crew like pilots and engineers, air traffic control staff, etc etc. Is there enough manpower to cater to these requirements of aviation industry or say something is seriously wrong with the aircrafts itself and their maintainance. }

We have seen immense number of plane accidents......It has really affected people alot that it usually gives us a second thought to travel by air or not..!!!!!Where has the safety of PASSENGERS disappeared......When will some serious action be really taken concerning the AIRLINES.

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