Plane On Fire in Denver, Passengers Standing on Wing

[ExiledInIllinois]

  On 3/14/2025 at 9:41 PM, sherpa said:

 

Yes, certainly, and I understand the angst.

 

Still, statistically, the safest way to travel, corrupted by terrorists and the US consumer's demand for the lowest possible price, but it works.

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I got absolutely no angst.  I think prices should be lower and fly us by drone! 😆 

 

Drone solves the issue:

 

  On 3/15/2025 at 2:40 AM, Mike in Horseheads said:

If theres a fire in the engine why are they standing on the wings that contain the fuel?

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Better than passed out in the cabin.

 

Anyway... What to you treat first, stopped breathing or bleeding out?

 

They ain't bleeding out YET!

 

😉

 

 

[Mike in Horseheads]

  On 3/15/2025 at 3:56 AM, ExiledInIllinois said:

I got absolutely no angst.  I think prices should be lower and fly us by drone! 😆 

 

Drone solves the issue:

 

Better than passed out in the cabin.

 

Anyway... What to you treat first, stopped breathing or bleeding out?

 

They ain't bleeding out YET!

 

😉

 

 

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Untill they get blown to smithereens when the wing expodes

[ExiledInIllinois]

 

@Mike in Horseheads... They landed so they should be pretty low on fuel.  I think the fire was on the starboard engine... They are standing on the port wing... But, I probably would have tried to shimmy down OR hang jump.  Give it an extra 6 feet.  NOT sure wing supports my phat azz. LoL

  On 3/15/2025 at 4:04 AM, Mike in Horseheads said:

Untill they get blown to smithereens when the wing expodes

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Ooops... It's the fumes from the jet fuel that explode.  Actually you're probably right... Empty tank w/high fumes can be dangerous!  Why we don't lock empty petrol-chem barges with pleasure craft!

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by ExiledInIllinois

[sherpa]

  On 3/15/2025 at 2:40 AM, Mike in Horseheads said:

If theres a fire in the engine why are they standing on the wings that contain the fuel?

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There's a few things to consider here.

First, someone above stated that since they landed there would be little fuel.

Not so. They were going to DFW and decided to land at Denver, having reduced thrust due to a no.3 engine vibration.

The vibration was reduced to within tolerances, but they decided to go to Denver anyway. 

 

The likely reason they are standing on the wing is as follows:

This fire didn't start until they were at the gate with the jet bridge attached.

In a normal evacuation, which is pilot commanded, this command is given when the airplane is properly configured for it, and all the doors are armed, meaning the slides pop out when the door is opened.

In this case, they would have all been disarmed, which the flight attendants do once parked, ergo, no slides unless manually deployed, and the plane was shut down.

 

It is quite likely that a passenger or flight attendant saw the smoke and popped an overwing exit.

Without the flaps down, which they would have been if planning an evac, the folks were reluctant to sump the six feet or so from the top to the ground.

In this case, it is quite likely that someone decided to start the evac on their own.

[ExiledInIllinois]

  On 3/15/2025 at 7:33 AM, sherpa said:

 

There's a few things to consider here.

First, someone above stated that since they landed there would be little fuel.

Not so. They were going to DFW and decided to land at Denver, having reduced thrust due to a no.3 engine vibration.

The vibration was reduced to within tolerances, but they decided to go to Denver anyway. 

 

The likely reason they are standing on the wing is as follows:

This fire didn't start until they were at the gate with the jet bridge attached.

In a normal evacuation, which is pilot commanded, this command is given when the airplane is properly configured for it, and all the doors are armed, meaning the slides pop out when the door is opened.

In this case, they would have all been disarmed, which the flight attendants do once parked, ergo, no slides unless manually deployed, and the plane was shut down.

 

It is quite likely that a passenger or flight attendant saw the smoke and popped an overwing exit.

Without the flaps down, which they would have been if planning an evac, the folks were reluctant to sump the six feet or so from the top to the ground.

In this case, it is quite likely that someone decided to start the evac on their own.

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I caught that, but wasn't sure where flight originated from.

 

Probably not a good situation to be standing on the fuel tank... Tank drawn down with more vapor in it might be worse than a full tank.

[billsfanmiamioh]

Flew through Denver myself later last night. Glad nobody was seriously injured. 

[frostbitmic]

Worldwide there are roughly 100,000 passenger flights a day, the odds of you surviving a flight is pretty good, for now.

[ExiledInIllinois]

  On 3/15/2025 at 2:42 PM, frostbitmic said:

Worldwide there are roughly 100,000 passenger flights a day, the odds of you surviving a flight is pretty good, for now.

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Yup.  If your time is up, it's up.  Hopefully a little situational awareness, some good safety & logic can forestall otherwise bad happenings...

[sherpa]

  On 3/15/2025 at 2:26 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

I caught that, but wasn't sure where flight originated from.

 

Probably not a good situation to be standing on the fuel tank... Tank drawn down with more vapor in it might be worse than a full tank.

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Just for general info, the vapor issue has been dealt with before on airliner fuel tanks.

Without going into nerdy specifics, there were significant changes made to handle this issue in airplane fuel tanks after TWA 800, years ago.

 

Jet fuel is also far less volatile than gasoline or avgas.

[ExiledInIllinois]

  On 3/15/2025 at 11:40 PM, sherpa said:

 

Just for general info, the vapor issue has been dealt with before on airliner fuel tanks.

Without going into nerdy specifics, there were significant changes made to handle this issue in airplane fuel tanks after TWA 800, years ago.

 

Jet fuel is also far less volatile than gasoline or avgas.

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Gasoline one step up (3) on flammability (Red) BUT one step down (1) on health (blue) than kerosene (Jet Fuel) on NFPA fire diamond. 

 

Pick your poison, blow up with gasoline OR get cancer from kerosene fuels.😏 

[Figster]

  On 3/14/2025 at 6:11 PM, Gugny said:

Air Traffic Controllers effed up AGAIN!!

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  On 3/14/2025 at 7:06 PM, BringBackFergy said:

Where is Figster to splain this to me?

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I'm going to go out on a wing here and say Gugs splained it just fine.

[Augie]

  On 3/17/2025 at 9:57 PM, Figster said:

 

I'm going to go out on a wing here and say Gugs splained it just fine.

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I saw a comedian once explain why they have to print “do not open during flight” on the doors of the plane. One day, a guy turned to his wife and said “Martha, I’m gonna go out on the wing and have a smoke.”