Five Spirit Airlines airplanes could have sustained millions of dollars worth of damage after an emergency fire suppression system in a maintenance hangar at Detroit Metro Airport was accidentally activated on July 4.
The 126,000-square-foot hangar, completed in 2017 at a cost of $32 million, is equipped with a foam fire suppression system, designed to smother airplanes in the event of a serious fire in the hangar.
Although these foam fire systems are fairly standard in large maintenance hangars, they do come with one major drawback – the foam is actually highly corrosive to multiple aircraft systems, including sensitive wiring.
At around 5 pm on July 4, the foam fire suppression system at Spirit’s hangar at Detroit Metro Airport activated as a wild storm swept through the area. It’s suspected that a lightning strike may have inadvertently activated the system.
Inside the hangar were an Airbus A321 and a slightly smaller Airbus A320. Unfortunately, the hangar doors were open at the time of activation, so the foam quickly seeped out onto the ramp where three additional Spirit airplanes were parked.
All five aircraft will have to be taken out of service for extensive inspections to ensure that the foam hasn’t caused any damage.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the airline explained: “On July 4, the fire suppression system at our Detroit (DTW) maintenance facility was inadvertently activated, which we believe was caused by lightning nearby.”
“There was no fire, and no injuries were reported. Two aircraft parked inside the facility and one aircraft parked outside the facility were removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team.”
The spokesperson added, “We have engaged a contractor to assist with cleanup efforts, and we thank first responders for their quick response and assistance. There is no impact on our flight operations.”
This isn’t the first time that foam fire systems have wreaked havoc for commercial airlines.
In May 2020, two American Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliners were smothered in foam when the fire suppression system was accidentally activated at the carrier’s main maintenance headquarters at Dallas Fort Worth.
Given the fact that travel demand had been decimated at the time by the pandemic, American Airlines had plenty of time to fully inspect the aircraft without any impact on its operation.
Even minor foam intrusion can cost from $100,000 per aircraft to cleanup, while serious foam flooding is estimated to cost as much as $10 million. The foam is so corrosive that work needs to start within 24 hours to prevent serious damage from being caused.
In 2014, an Airbus A340 belonging to German flag carrier Lufthansa suffered damage estimated at $5 million to repair following a foam fire suppression system activation at its Frankfurt maintenance hangar.
And in 2021, Southwest Airlines landed with a multi-million dollar repair bill after several aircraft were damaged following a similar incident at a hangar at Phoenix Sky Harbor.
