An
aircraft is always an wonder ! - Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a business unit
of The Boeing Company, has manufactured more than 10,000 Boeing commercial jetliners
in service, flying passengers and freight.
According to its website, a record
5,500 Boeing airplanes are currently on order. Boeing Commercial Airplanes,
headquartered in Seattle, Wash., employs more than 83,000 people worldwide. Of the
many from its stables, Boeing 767 is a mid- to large-size, long-range,
wide-body twin-engine jet airliner. It was Boeing's first wide-body twinjet and
its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft has two turbofan
engines. According to an airliner info
web – it costs approx $92,000,000 [ a mind boggling 602 crores !!]
Fort
Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, lies in Florida between Fort
Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach. The airport is near cruise line
terminals at Port Everglades and is popular among tourists bound for the
Caribbean. It is the largest base for Spirit Airlines, catering mainly to the
airline's international to domestic network.
It is in news as passengers reportedly fled – due to a jet bursting into
flames while preparing to take off in Florida.
The airport was temporarily closed but has since reopened
A report
in Daily Mail states that a plane caught fire at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida
airport on Thursday, sending passengers fleeing for their lives out of the
aircraft's emergency slides. Photos and video from the scene show the Dynamic
Airways plane engulfed in thick black flames around 12:30pm before airport
firefighters came and extinguished the fire with a white foam. The fire has
since been completely extinguished and everyone safely taken off the plane.
According the
report, there were 101 people on board, 23 were
injured and taken to the hospital, including a child. One person suffered
serious - though not life threatening - burns while the rest had minor
injuries. The uninjured were placed on buses and taken back to a terminal. It is stated that when the Boeing caught fire
on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The reports puts the origin of fire appears to have started by a fuel leak in
the left engine. The fire started as the plane was taxiing for take off.
A pilot taxiing
behind the plane alerted air traffic control that the plane was leaking fuel
right before it caught fire. 'Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!' said the Air traffic controller, moments
later. The plane was on its way to Caracas, Venezuela, and charring on the
aircraft suggests the fire started in the left engine.
One passenger is
quoted as saying - 'We spent probably 30 to 40 seconds before they opened the
door. It was pretty nerve-racking to know the door wasn’t opening and something
was on fire.' Firefighters at the airport were able to quickly put out the
flames as the passengers and crew escaped out of the passenger slides – it was
a Boeing 767 operating for Dynamic Airways. Airport firefighters extinguished the flames with a white foam flame retardant
before moving in to the investigate. The FAA released a statement saying:
'Dynamic International Airways 405 apparently caught fire on Taxiway B while
taxiing for departure from Runway 28 Right at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport. The National
Transportation Safety Board confirmed they are sending a four-person team to
investigate the fire.
Following the fire,
the airport was closed down and flights diverted to other regional airports.
The airport reportedly reopened after a
few hours. Dynamic Airways is a small airline founded in 2010. The company is
based in Greensboro, North Carolina and connects New York, Fort Lauderdale,
Venezuela and Guyana. The plane that
caught fire on Thursday was built in 1986 and is one of the oldest versions of
the 767 model.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
30th Oct 2o15
