Fire forces Australia jet to land (Airbus 330)

[jannyk]

Source: BBC

An Australian passenger plane with 203 people on board has been forced into an emergency landing after a fire broke out in the cockpit.

The Airbus A330, operated by Jetstar, was flying from Japan to Australia when a window in the cockpit caught fire.

The pilots managed to put out the fire before landing in Guam. Jetstar said all of those on board were unharmed.

A similar model of the Airbus, operated by Air France, crashed on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris last week.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8094388.stm

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Uh oh. A window caught fire??!!??

[uppityperson]

1. How can a window catch fire?

Just flying along and "oh shit the window's on fire!"?

[cloudbase]

2. Most likely a window with a heating element in it,

much like the rear window defroster in cars.

[uppityperson]

3. Ah, didn't think of that. Thank you.

[Hawkeye-X]

4. Here's some detail out of AVHerald.com;

http://avherald.com/h?article=41afb03e&opt=0

A Jetstar Airbus A330-200, registration VH-EBF performing flight JQ-20 (departing June 10th) from Osaka Kansai (Japan) to Bilinga Gold Coast,QL (Australia) with 190 passengers and 13 crew, was about 4 hours into the flight, when the flight crew noticed smoke coming from the right hand side of the cockpit. Moments later the heating of the right hand cockpit window caught fire. The captain managed to extinguish the flames. The crew decided to divert to Guam (Guam), where the airplane landed safely. No injuries occured.

A replacement A330-200 has been dispatched to Guam.

[Doctor Cynic]

5. Maybe it's the WindowS Vista software which caused a glith.

[itsrobert]

6. As the fleet of Airbus planes gets older, more and more of these mishaps

will occur.

[Angleae]

9. The plane was 2 years old.

The oldest A330 is only 15.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. This plane's only two years old...

They reckon it's more than likely due to using cheap overseas maintenance. Jetstar's crap and after the experience one of my friends had on a Jetstar flight, I'd rather walk or swim to my destination than put my life in their hands...

[inwiththenew]

7. Must be Airbus' fly by fire design

[crimsonblue]

8. gives a whole new term to firewire.

[conspirator]

11. Travel in A330 - no thank you. A340 at least has 4 engines, so it's a bit safer nt

[high density]

12. Your idea of safer has no basis in fact. NM

[a la izquierda]

13. I would feel safer with 4 engines...but it's not logical

I admit. I also think certain parts of the plane are safer for sitting. I doubt that has much basis in fact either. Fear of the nature that people having while flying typically isn't rational.