767 Fire At KORD

[3393RP]

I'm sure the ratio of passengers reporting aircraft problems to the number of actual issues is large.

If any of you have watched Concorde: Flying Supersonic on the History Channel you may recall seeing the bit about the Dulles incident, where a tire burst put a hole in the wing and caused a fuel leak. A passenger in the seat with a view of the hole named William Lightfoot tried unsuccessfully to notify a FA to look at the damage but she refused and the cabin crew began drink service. Finally the condescending FA had the flight engineer take a look, and it wasn't long before the throttles were pulled back. Lightfoot was an aviation writer and consultant, and certainly knew that a hole in the wing of an aircraft accelerating toward Mach 1 was not good.

There have been a number of rudder incidents over the years. If I remember correctly, the first time British Airways operated a 'round-the-world charter with a Concorde, a piece of the rudder was lost and the aircraft spent a couple of unscheduled days in Australia while a part was flown out from London (or perhaps Sud-Est). And this week as well a BA Concorde lost part of it's rudder.

However, the tire incident that brought down the Air France Concorde in July, 2000 was not a singular incident. The Fall 1990 issue of 'Airliners' magazine carried a story by William Lightfoot (reprinted in the Jan/Feb 2001 issue), describing a June 14, 1979 incident on his Dulles to Paris flight in which No. 5 and 6 tires on the left main landing gear exploded on takeoff. Debris and wheel shrapnel damaged the No. 2 engine, fuel tanks, hydraulic lines and electrical cables and tore a large hole in the wing above the wheel well area.

Mr. Lightfoot was seated in a position where he was able to see the hole in the wing. About 45 seconds after liftoff, with the plane still accelerating, Lightfoot left his seat to alert a stewardess to what had happened. She told him the take-off was normal and to return to his seat, as the seatbelt sign was still on. The author told her that he had been in the aerospace business for 20 years, sold fighter planes for a living, had previously flown Concorde a number of times and KNEW that they had a SEVERE problem with the plane. He asked the stewardess and a steward to look out the window at the hole in the wing, but "neither were particularly interested".

The seat belt sign was turned off and the cabin crew began serving drinks. EVENTUALLY, Lightfoot was able to convince a steward to go to the flight deck. The co-pilot or engineer came with the steward to the author's seat, looked out the window and exclaimed "Mon Dieu!" He hurried back to the flight deck. The seat belt and no-smoking signs were turned on, the Concorde began slowing down and returned to Dulles. There was no emergency evacuation. The passengers were held on the aircraft for what seemed "an eternity" to Lightfoot, because, it later turned out, the drivers operating the "people mover" mobile lounges had not wanted to get close to the aircraft for fear of a fire breaking out! The handling of the entire incident was MIND BOGGLING. The National Transportation Safety Board subsequently termed the incident "potentially catastrophic".

http://www.airlinecrew.net/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-165628.html

 

[GlennAB1]

When I was a kid my family flew non-rev quite a bit. Dad was a mechanic, then manager for TWA in Dayton, for 33 years. We were on our way to Paris, on a 707, when I noticed leakage from an outboard panel. It looked like a pretty good stream. I pointed it out to my father and he got up and went to the front of the aircraft. He came back and sat down and a few minutes later one of the cockpit crew came back and took a look out the window. Dad said they hadn't noticed any abnormal fuel quantity loss but figured the leak would stop when fuel quantity decreased, which of course it did.

 

[Mason]

My A&P employee, friend, and CFI was non-revving on an ATR-42 belonging to a code-share partner. He noticed a main gear tire looked extremely low. He got out of the boarding line and pointed it out to one of the pilots. His flight ended up about an hour late for a double tire change on that side. He was happy.

 

[mscard88]

My A&P employee, friend, and CFI was non-revving on an ATR-42 belonging to a code-share partner. He noticed a main gear tire looked extremely low. He got out of the boarding line and pointed it out to one of the pilots. His flight ended up about an hour late for a double tire change on that side. He was happy.

Wow, I flew the ATR-72 and had that happen at KCHA while boarding. FAA was "in the area" too so I had no choice but to call Company and have it looked at.