Plane catches FIRE over London | BA 762

seconds after takeoff from London both engines blow wide open on a British Airways Airbus a390 terrified passengers look on in horror as fluid streaks from the exposed engines the pilots declare an emergency and turn back towards the airport immediately but will they be able to make it back to the runway Before Time runs out this is the story of British Airways flight 762. foreign on the morning of May 24 2013 at London's Heathrow Airport a British Airways crew made its way to their aircraft for the First Flight of the day they would be taking an 11 year old Airbus a319 to Oslo the capital of Norway they had no idea as they prepared for this two-hour Journey but before their plane even left the ground it would suffer a devastating failure and what's more this problem had been hiding in plain sight all morning the captain of this flight was 50 years old and had 12 500 hours of flying experience about half of which were on Airbus aircraft he had been with British Airways for his entire career joining as an engineering Apprentice he would later train as a pilot to fly the Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 he was upgraded to captain in 2002 when he was trained to fly the Airbus A320 family of aircraft the first officer was a bit younger at 33 years old and had just over 5 000 hours of flying experience about four thousands of which run the A320 family of aircraft he had been with British Airways for six years before the passengers boarded the pilots reviewed the aircraft's technolog to see if the plane had any outstanding maintenance issues on this day they found nothing substantial here nonetheless before every flight one of the pilots must carry out a visual inspection of the plane's exterior known as the walk around the first officer would be performing it on this morning what he didn't realize as he donned his high Vis jacket and stepped down onto the apron was that a glaring issue was waiting for him as the first officer carried out the walk around the captain began setting up the cockpit for the journey to Oslo he programmed the flight's route into the plane's flight management system and calculated the performance takeoff data for the aircraft technologically speaking this aircraft was a massive Leap Forward from the planes he had flown for British Airways previously its most distinctive feature was its fly-by-wire flight controls which meant that the pilots controlled the plane not by a system of cables and pulleys but by electrical wires while this is a safety feature it has been partly blamed for accidents in the past including the crash of Air France flight 447 from Rio to Paris in 2009. and by the way Airbus and Air France have just been acquitted of the crash of flight 447 I know this because I use ground news to stay up to date with all of the latest news in aviation ground news is the world's first news comparison platform which gives you a quick visual breakdown of the news outlets covering different stories their political bias how factual the source is and which countries are covering the story in the case of flight 447 Three French judges ruled that there just isn't enough evidence of a direct link between the decisions that Air France at Airbus and the crash of the flight there's a lot going on at the moment in the world of Aviation from technological breakthroughs to massive aircraft orders from Airlines like United and Air India ground news is my favorite place to keep up to date with all of this especially because of its really useful blind SWAT feature which shows you news you might otherwise have missed you can also follow specific topics like Aviation Technology business or whatever else you're interested in so go to ground.news forward slash Green Dot to try Grand news for free or subscribe to get access to all the features you see here and don't forget by clicking on that link in the description you're also helping to support the channel thanks to ground news for sponsoring this video and now let's get back to the flight by five minutes to 8 that morning the 75 passengers had boarded the aircraft had been loaded with 7 600 kilograms of fuel and the first officer had completed the walk around as far as he could tell everything was in order right on schedule flight 762 pushed back from the gate at heathrows terminal 5. nobody knew it but the Clock Was now ticking the pilots had missed their last chance to notice the problem with their aircraft they began taxing out to Runway 2-7 left at Heathrow their two-hour flight to Oslo would be over in a matter of minutes foreign the flight was cleared for takeoff the first officer lined the aircraft up with the runway and powered up the engines within seconds passengers seated at the windows were treated to a horrifying site the engine cowling doors had swung open and were now flapping violently in the Wind but in the cockpit all seemed normal as the plane accelerated the cowling doors on both engines were torn off by the incredible force of the oncoming air they crashed down onto the runway below tumbling behind it moments later the first officer brought the plane into the sky oblivious to the damage which had just happened behind him immediately passengers began shouting for the flight attendants Panic set in as the plane roared skywards its engines apparently falling apart on the ground the pilots of another aircraft who were lining up on the runway radio the Tower with troubling news the runway was now littered with debris Twisted metallic wreckage from the departing flight the pilots of flight 762 heard this over the radio this was the first indication that something had gone seriously wrong in the back of the aircraft the flight attendants were desperately trying to reach the Pilot's via the intercom eager to give the frightened passengers some reassurance but in the cockpit the pilots were too busy to answer they first had to get their plane to a safe altitude passing 1100 feet the first officer turned on the autopilot but as soon as he did this the auto thrust disconnected he was now controlling the engines manually something he had never done on the a319 apart from in the simulator this was an inconvenience more than anything but it was a sign that there were some deeper problems with the aircraft as the first officer flew the plane the captain watched the engine instruments carefully the engines appeared to be working normally so the pilots continued climbing to 6000 feet the altitude specified by their departure routing but in a few short moments as they climbed out over the suburbs of London the pilots would be in for a shock the first of many on this short flight as the first officer climbed a barrage of messages appeared on the ecam the cockpit Central display the first of these said that the plane's computers could no longer calculate the engine thrust in the usual way and would have to revert to a more rudimentary state the captain didn't know it but this was because one of the sensors which produces these readings had been damaged when the engine panels had violently sheared off he followed the computer's instructions regardless switching the engines over to what's known as N1 mode shocked observers on the ground looked on as the crippled jet limped on above them ironically they had a better view of what had happened the aircraft than the pilots did with every second the plane spent in the air its engines were being exposed to the harsh environment outside as It sped through the air at over 450 kilometers per hour vital tubing in the engines had been damaged when the cowling panels broke free during takeoff in a matter of minutes they would cause havoc on the plane systems inside the cabin the passengers were terrified what could have caused both of their engines to be so catastrophically damaged during takeoff and why hadn't the pilots told them anything about what was happening the lead flight attendant rushed to the window at the overwing exit row on the right hand side of the plane to her horror she could see the exposed tubing within the engine she had never seen anything like this in her entire career in the cockpit the plane's computers had now thrown up the most serious warning yet one of the aircraft's three hydraulic systems known as the yellow system had run completely dry without this important source of hydraulic power the pilots had now lost their ability to use some of the wing spoilers and the reverse thrust and the right hand engine as well as this the flaps would now work more slowly and some of the flight controls had lost some of their inbuilt redundancy whatever had happened the engines it was serious and there was no telling how much worse it could get the pilots had to return to the airport immediately to prevent the two remaining hydraulic systems from leaking through the same hole the captain had to isolate them from the damage system to do this he turned off the power transfer unit or PTU on the overhead panel for now the other hydraulic systems appeared to be safe staying at their normal pressure of 3000 psi now with the aircraft's condition somewhat stable and level at 6000 feet the pilots had a chance to review their situation their adrenaline was surging but they would have to be systematic what was the status of the aircraft what wasn't working and what was the first officer looked out his window back at the right hand wing ly he saw that part of the Leading Edge was damaged whatever had happened it had affected more than just the engines the captain radioed air traffic control and told them that he had an engine problem and had lost a hydraulic system he asked the controller for radar vectors back to the airport the runway they departed from had now been shut down after they had left debris scattered all over it so what remained was the parallel Runway Runway two seven right but at this moment unbeknownst to the pilots another League had begun to take hold few had started gushing from the right hand engine at an incredible rate of over 120 kilograms per minute it wasn't just one clock ticking anymore there were now multiple and the pilots at least not yet didn't even know it the senior flight attendant called the cockpit on the intercom for a second time this time the captain picked up she told them that it looked as if the top of the right-hand engine had blown open the captain didn't ask for any more details no matter what he would be returning to Heathrow he asked the flight attendant to inform the passengers and told her that he would give them his own briefing once he had worked his way through the checklists the Pilot's training now kicked into high gear as they began to apply British Airways decision-making Aid known as T dodar which stands for time diagnose options decide assign and review by using this systematic approach the pilots would leave as little to chance as possible the last thing they wanted was to miss something important in their critically damaged aircraft but just as they began to work their way through this the ecam threw out its worst warning yet there was a massive fuel imbalance between the tanks in the right wing and those in the left wing the tanks in the right wing had 1500 kilograms less fuel than those in the left wing and this difference was growing by the second immediately the first officer identified this as a possible fuel leak whatever amount of time the pilots had previously had to assess their situation it had just gotten much shorter the captain contacted Air Traffic Control requesting an immediate return to Runway 2-7 right at Heathrow he alerted the controller that they had a fuel leak and that they had five tons of fuel remaining five tons might sound like a lot but with the few leaking at the rate that it was it wouldn't be long before the right hand engine gave out the captain made an announcement to the passengers telling them that one of the engine covers had come off and that they would be returning to Heathrow he also called the senior cabin crew member back to the cockpit two flight attendants entered the cockpit and the captain briefed them on what to expect the plane would be landing in six minutes and it would be stopping on the runway to be inspected there was a chance that there would be a fire and that they would need to prepare for an evacuation on the runway the flight attendants returned to the cabin and prepared the passengers for an emergency landing open the cockpit the situation was worsening while the captain had been briefing the flight attendants the first officer had been closely watching the fuel levels he had calculated that in the last two minutes and 20 seconds over 100 kilograms of fuel had leaked from the right-wing fuel tank the pilots went through the calculations there were Now 26 nautical miles from touchdown and there were 4 200 kilograms of fuel left 1100 of which was in the right wing tank to the pilots these were just numbers on a screen albeit very worrying ones but the passengers sitting on the right hand side of the plane could see the problem all too clearly jet fuel was streaming back from the right hand engine at a prodigious rate the pilots told air traffic control that it was possible that the right engine would run out of fuel before landing taking this possibility of a last minute failure into account They carried out a new briefing for their approach and Landing into Heathrow as the captain continued preparing for the approach the first officer was growing increasingly concerned about the fuel leak in the right-hand engine the Pilot's quick reference handbook or qrh dictated that in its present condition the right-hand engine should be shut down it was seriously damaged and with its massive fuel leak it could catch fire at any minute on top of everything else which had gone wrong on their aircraft an engine fire being fed by hundreds of kilograms of fuel per minute was a terrifying Prospect the first officer voiced his concerns to the captain asking whether the engine should be shot down before a fire started but the captain disagreed both engines were damaged what if he shot down the right hand engine only for the left engine to fail moments after with both engines out over Central London there aren't many places to put down an aircraft the size of an a319 the captain figured that the risk of shutting down the right engine was less than the risk of a fire starting and as Captain he was within his rights to override the standard operating procedures if he deemed this to be the safer option it was a tough decision but at least for now the crew had two functioning engines the pilots continued on now lined up for an extended final for Runway 2 7 right at Heathrow Air Traffic Control gave them permission to land and notified them that the Emergency Services would be waiting for them on the runway the pilots were determined to get the plane onto the runway as soon as possible they didn't know whether they would get a second attempt they slowed the aircraft and extended the flaps now all the first officer had to do was land the aircraft but just at that moment a loud bang rocked the aircraft the plane swung to the right the captain looked at the engine instruments which showed the right-hand engine rapidly rolling back the engine had now served its purpose and it only posed a threat to the aircraft from now on the captain announced that he was going to shut it down but just as he said this one of the worst warnings imaginable sounded in the cockpit the engine fire warning their situation had just gotten a lot worse the Tyrant of fuel which had been gushing from the engine had now ignited immediately the captain shot down the engine pulling the thrust lever back to idle and cutting off the fuel supply he pressed the fire button for Engine 2 on the overhead panel and discharged one of the engine's two inbuilt fire extinguishers after this he declared a Mayday to air traffic control he told them that he was going to try to land but that he may have to go around under tremendous pressure the first officer continued towards the runway passengers were terrified they could see the Flames coming from the damaged engine in the cockpit the fire Bell was still ringing the captain was eagerly waiting for it to stop signifying the end of the fire but that moment didn't come now he made a last-ditch effort to extinguish the fire by discharging the second Bottle Into the engine if the only two engine fire bottles didn't work there was no way he would have the luxury of a second Landing attempt he waited and waited as the first officer continued down towards the runway but the fire warning continued to Blair there was no way around it they had to land on this attempt there may not be any second chances [Music] for the first officer who was now flying the plane manually the pressure was on behind him 78 lives hung in the balance to ease the pressure on him the captain took over the thrust levers he would control the aircraft's speed keeping it within safe limits while the first officer focused on aiming the crippled jet at the runway as the first officer flew the captain called out the aircraft's speed intermittently so that he could remain focused on the runway and wouldn't need to look down at his instruments in the main cabin the passengers didn't know what to expect they were very low over the ground now and eager to see the airport appear beneath them fire engines and ambulances raced to the runway fully preparing to deal with the crash landing of an airliner as the plane reached 500 feet above the ground the captain took over control from the first officer he instructed him to use the thrust levers to control the plane speed where he focused on Landing the plane while both Pilots were experienced the captain had 2 000 more hours behind the Airbus he knew that that experience might make all the difference in this situation finally the plane touched down on the runway the captain slammed on the brakes bursting one of the tires just six out of the 10 wing spoilers deployed because of the failed hydraulic system but gradually the plane slowed down as it did so the captain turned to the right so the Flaming engine was downwind of the passenger cabin the fire brigade raced to the aircraft and assessed the situation with the right engine still on fire the captain asked the fire chief whether he should order an evacuation the fire chief recommended that the aircraft be evacuated on the left side so the passengers should be kept clear of the right hand engine the captain gave the order and within less than two minutes all of the passengers had been evacuated everyone on board was safe but there was still a mystery how could one of the world's most advanced passenger Jets operated by one of the world's safest Airlines suffered such a catastrophic failure as it turned out the answer was shockingly simple the previous night while the aircraft was parked at the gate technicians had been carrying out routine maintenance work on the engines during this work they realized that they were missing an essential tool so they left the aircraft to go and get it leaving the engine fan Cal doors open once they had retrieved the correct tool and made their way back to where the aircraft was they ended up going to the wrong aircraft parked nearby they saw that the engines of that plane were closed up and they assumed that somebody else had carried out the rest of the work while they had been gone the investigation into this incident found that this was not the first time such a mistake had occurred in fact mistakes like this were routine but the final nail in the coffin happened the morning of the flight itself when neither the first officer nor any other ground staff noticed the unlatched doors during the exterior inspection of the aircraft by pure chance just minutes before the plane was pushed back from the gate that morning a member of ground staff had taken pictures of the aircraft for training purposes here's what they look like these pictures clearly show that the fan Cal doors were unlatched and slightly ajar to prevent similar incidents from happening again Airbus changed their pre-flight walkaround inspection procedure such that Pilots are now required to check both sides of the engine to ensure that the fan doors are closed British Airways brought in additional training for the Pilot's exterior inspection and changes have also been made which make it easier to spot when the door is unlocked these include a bright flag attached to the Implement which holds the door open and fluorescent paint on the latch itself those on board flight 762 were fortunate that these lessons were learned without any loss of life and we're all Lucky that thanks to the improvements which resulted flying is now safer than it was even in 2013. if you enjoyed this video then I'd really appreciate if you could hit the like button below it 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Channel: Green Dot Aviation

Views: 775,402

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Id: 9h0aGIlVGuA

Length: 22min 23sec (1343 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023