LiveATC Discussion Forums
Air Traffic Monitoring => Listener Forum => Topic started by: jmack108 on June 11, 2009, 01:38:24 AM
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Fire forces Australia jet to land
Jetstar is a low-cost airline based in Australia and Singapore
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.
All 228 passengers died in that incident.
The Jetstar plane was four hours into its flight to the Gold Coast in Queensland when the fire broke out.
"Smoke became evident in the cockpit and one of our pilots was required to use an extinguisher," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway told Australia's ABC News.
"We conducted an emergency diversion to Guam international airport where the aircraft landed without incident."
He said the plane, which is two years old, would be held in Guam until the cause of the fire was established.
Most of the passengers were reported to be Japanese nationals.
Jetstar is part-owned by Australia's national carrier, Qantas.
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The replacement plane should arrive soon. I hear they plan on taking back off in a couple hours.
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What caused the fire?
Thanks
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how does a window catch fire?
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What I've read elsewhere was the fire was by the windshield not the winshield actually being on fire. A guam newspaper is say on their website that the atsb is sending a team to investigate.
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20090611/NEWS01/90611004/BREAKING+NEWS++10+16+a.m.+%E2%80%94+Passengers+from+JetStar+Airbus+flight+safe++will+resume+flight+tonight
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The windows can catch fire. They have a heater built into it to help removing ice and snow. If it shorts out or gets too hot, they do catch fire. There have been a few incidents over the past 10 - 15 years here in the U.S. of a cockpit window actually catching on fire.
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The windows can catch fire. They have a heater built into it to help removing ice and snow. If it shorts out or gets too hot, they do catch fire. There have been a few incidents over the past 10 - 15 years here in the U.S. of a cockpit window actually catching on fire.
Affirmative.
The windows in most newer aircraft are acrylic, a very dense plastic. They can melt and burn. The heat element can short out. It is similar to the rear defroster on your car. It is an electrical element that heats the window, melting or preventing snow and ice buildup. They also "soften" the windows, making them less likely to break in a birdstrike, or any other object, situation.
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Here is a nose-on shot of a KLM A330:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1349/603843484_3f6380da23.jpg?v=0
And a side view of an A330:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fAu72H45Db5Z/520x.jpg
And this:
"One aviation expert said early suspicions would focus on a short-circuit in the cockpit window's heating system."
From this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090611/wl_asia_afp/australiajapanaviationaccidentjetstarguam