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Record of fires on 777 jets
Dick Murray and Jonathan Prynn18 Jan 2008
The type of jet involved in the near catastrophe at Heathrow has a history of onboard fires causing power failure.
The Standard has learned that Boeing 777s have been involved in at least 12 serious incidents when electrical systems became dangerously overheated during or immediately prior to flights.
On at least four occasions this caused "major damage" to power panels containing vital circuits that control the plane.
The revelation came as investigators continued their search for the cause of the worst aviation accident at Heathrow for more than 30 years.
BA pilot Peter Burkill steered the stricken plane to a safe crash landing yesterday.
It is believed he had to guide it into the airport after suffering a massive power loss in the cockpit on the final approach.
Today it emerged that the Department for Transport's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which is carrying out the inquiry, warned about electrical overheating on the 777 in a report published last April.
It followed an accident in February when a pilot on a United Airlines 777 abandoned a take-off after it lost one of its main power control units - known as a bus. The plane was evacuated after smoke was seen coming from the plane.
An investigation revealed "extensive heat and fire damage" to an electrical panel which had melted and vaporised circuits. The report went on: "There was evidence that molten metal had dripped down onto the insulation blankets beneath this panel."
It emerged that similar incidents on 777s had happened 11 times previously since the model was introduced in 1996.
The report said the AAIB was working with the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and the manufacturer of the power panel "to try to determine the cause of the failures within the electrical power system".
Investigators are expected to reveal their initial findings on the Heathrow accident tomorrow afternoon.
Theories include a huge bird strike, bad weather and pilot error as well as other possible causes of electrical failure. However-it is believed that lack of fuel was not a factor. Captain Burkill and his two co-pilots were quizzed for five hours last night by investigators.
The crew then went for a curry to "return to normality".
Captain Burkill will have been trained to glide a plane into land with double engine failure. However, the reliability of modern jet engines means most pilots will only encounter even a single engine loss a few times in their career.
A double simultaneous failure is regarded as an incredibly remote possibility with odds of many millions to one.
Jim McAuslan, head of pilots' union Balpa, said: "These are ordinary people who have done an extraordinary thing. They were in good shape considering they had just walked away from death and saved 152 lives.
"They were taken away for questioning immediately after the crash and quizzed until the early evening. After that they just went for a curry. They are going about this quietly. These guys are trained month in, month out, to deal with this and that is what they did yesterday.
"By going for a curry they were very much trying to come down from the intensity of everything that has happened. It was trying to find some ordinariness."
Reader views (4)
If high on descent profile is it possible for the Fuel Boost Pump Surge boxes to become void of fuel over a prolonged period of nose down altitude to regain profile?
- Bob Greenacre, Richmond, Australia, 26/01/2008 08:21
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Mercifully the plane did not catch fire. That means all the evidence is there on the ground, uncompromised, and they'll work out exactly what went wrong sooner rather than later. Until then there's no point speculating!
- Nigel, London, 18/01/2008 15:11
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That's a long flight from Bejing, what's the odds it ran out of fuel on final approach? It has happened before (Air Transat flight 236) where a plane has ran out of fuel in flight.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK, 18/01/2008 14:22
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Or possible stall/wrong throttle control equating to pilot error as no bird debris has been reported to be found in the engines. Unlikely for both those RR engines to just stop in mid flight hence no mention of grounding the whole 777 fleet.
Good bit of patronizing there from Gordon Brown who of course always travels first class.
- Jon Smit, London UK, 18/01/2008 13:36
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