Airplane catches fire before takeoff at Sea-Tac

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-W Post

SEATTLE — A Sea-Tac airport spokesman says all passengers were safely evacuated after a United Airlines plane caught fire before taking off.

The Seattle Times reports that (http://bit.ly/NrMH6o) firefighters responding on Saturday discovered flames coming from the auxiliary power unit of United flight 776, a Boeing 757 that was scheduled to depart at 10:30 p.m., bound for Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

Sea-Tac spokesman Perry Cooper says firefighters extinguished the flames, and the plane was evacuated. A preliminary investigation indicated that the fire might be traceable to residual oil in the auxiliary power unit, which is located in the plane’s tail.

The plane was towed to cargo services for further investigation.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/airplane-catches-fire-before-takeoff-at-seattle-airport-no-injuries/2012/08/12/d85ca23c-e4c9-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Fortunately it was before takeoff

and not mid air.

[rsmith6621]

2. The APU Would Have Been Turned Off In Flight...

The APU usually is turned off after takeoff.

[Speck Tater]

3. I was on a 727 that had a fire during takeoff.

Somebody had left a rubber band on the burner of the coffee machine and while we were climbing out from San Diego the rubber band burst into flames and filled the cabin with stinky smoke. The flight attendants put out the fire and the flight proceeded without further incident to San Francisco. That was some time in the 1980's.

[SoapBox]

4. Evacs are dangerous stuff...

No mention of the passenger load and no mention of injuries from the evac.

In many/most cases, an evacuation, any evac under any situation, via the slides, will result in multiple injuries.

Depending on the airline, procedures may vary for when to evacuate and under what types of circumstances.

This MAY have been a situation that did not require using the slides (JUST from reading the article). IF the cockpit shut down
the APU...AND the FD hosed the tail and did not see any flames...it may have been safer for the AC to have been towed
to a remote area, stairs used to deplane and buses back to the terminal.

All that being said...If the fire is too hot, the water too deep, the structure too damaged or there is no communication from the cockpit...

Get OUT.