Potential maintenance issues could have been the root cause of a serious incident onboard an American Airlines Boeing 737 at Denver International Airport in March, which saw dozens of passengers trapped on the wings of the plane as smoke swirled around them.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has just released its preliminary report into the accident, which reveals that a small wire that’s meant to keep a fuel connection in place in one of the engines was loose and put in the wrong way.
In addition, a part known as the variable stator vane actuator, or VSV, was not properly attached, which could have allowed fuel to leak, and an engine drain pipe was clogged with a kind of glue or sealant.
American Airlines flight AA1006 from Colorado Springs to Dallas, operated by a 13-year-old Boeing 737-800, took off at 4:50 pm on March 13, but the pilots stopped the climb minutes after departure at 16,000 feet after they reported engine vibrations.
The pilots diverted to Denver and started taxiing to the gate, but as the plane reached the gate, the right-hand engine caught fire, and smoke started to spew out of the engine.
Flight attendants onboard the 13-year-old jet heard passengers screaming “fire,” and then smoke started to pour into the airplane cabin. They attempted to contact the pilots, but when they didn’t get a response, the cabin crew self-initiated an evacuation.
Some passengers escaped the plane via the forward left-hand door that an airbridge had already been attached to, while others jumped down an emergency slide at the back of the plane. Dozens of passengers also escaped onto the wings via self-help exits in the middle of the plane.
Another flight attendant tried to evacuate another emergency slide at the rear of the aircraft, but it failed to deploy. The investigation into why the slide failed to inflate is ongoing.
Video obtained from airfield cameras at the Denver Airport reveals that the plane left a trail of fluid as it taxiied to the gate for around five minutes after landing. On arrival at the gate, ground personnel jumped into action, using fire extinguishers to put out the flames before the airport fire department arrived at the scene.
The aircraft (registration: N885NN) was badly damaged in the incident. Data provided by Flight Radar 24 shows that the aircraft was due to return to service on June 1, but the flight did not go ahead.
American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The NTSB investigation continues.
Matt’s take – the plane wasn’t configured for an evacuation
Unlike the A320 series of single-aisle airplanes produced by Airbus, the Boeing 737 does not have slides installed on the wings to assist passengers who have evacuated via the overwing exits (sometimes referred to as self-help exits as passengers operate them without any involvement from flight attendants).
Instead, the pilots are required to lower the trailing edge flap on the wings to bring them closer to the ground and allow passengers to jump a safe distance to the tarmac below.
In this incident, the trailing edge flaps were not lowered, and this could have been because the flight attendants self-initiated an evacuation without first establishing contact with the pilots.
As a result, the passengers remained trapped on the wings for a period of time while firefighters rushed to the scene of the fire.
Wow, looks like multiple errors or holes in the ‘Swiss cheese’ … And, unrelatedly, AA recently had to divert to FCO a 787-9 going to NAP & equipment swap their aircraft in the two cities. It appears the NAP flight was dispatched with an aircraft model that NAP could not accommodate safely, possibly the runway ( although these details were not provided ). Maybe it’s time for a safety audit @ AA.
… and look at the aircraft’s ‘skin’ on that photo. I don’t know if it’s just purely cosmetic, but I don’t think I’d like to fly on that ship anytime in the future even though it has been ‘repaired’…..and would all the evacuation slides work ? .. lol