Posted On: Thursday - May 16th 2024 7:18AM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Globalists
Let me say, first of all, that the Lyin' Press has made a special effort to single out mishaps that happen to/on Boeing aircraft lately. Don't misunderstand me. Peak Stupidity would be the first to agree with those who attribute real problems (door plugs popping out, wheels falling off*) to the change in Boeing corporate culture from engineering to mass bean counting. I'd also agree that the D.I.E. programs will have very bad effects in the long run.** The "suicides" of 2!*** Q/A personnel says something about the company too.
However, I see big corporate Globalism, something the big international (this excludes SouthWest) airlines adhere to almost by definition, as hating Boeing and loving Airbus. I believe they want just the one big company, Airbus, left. "You will eat zee bugs in your crew meal as you let zee plane do zee flyink." Airbus - I'm thinking the 350 here - is ahead in the near-complete automation.
Going back 40 years there were 3 companies building mainline jets in the US alone. Canadair, builder of regional jets, got bought by the conglomerate Bombardier, which is now part of Airbus. The Brazilians are still building big regional "jungle" jets (crossovers?). Is the goal of the Globalists to get Russia out of the large aircraft manufacturing business too via economic and physical war?
There are still a number of manufacturers, including American companies Gulfstream and Cessna, making business jets, but those are not for the Hoi polloi/
Anyway, though I'd missed this story till a friend brought it up yesterday, the jetliner in the video below is, yes, an Airbus - 321 model. I didn't see big headlines saying "Airbus!!", but then again, as was the case with some of the recent Boeing incidents****, this fire may not have been caused by anything wrong with the plane, and if it were, I imagine it's maintenance related.
Here's what I had to do to see what's what with the fire. Because the beginning and then another chunk later on of this clip were speeded up 16x (from my stopwatch estimate), I went to .25 speed on the handy youtube settings, so I've been watching at 4x speed. The plane stopped on the cross-line on the ramp at 21:25:25 local time (PDT). Things happen pretty quickly out there, in order to get the passengers on their way. The chock blocks were put in place around the nose wheels within 15 seconds.
Taking a look with time on our hands after the fact with a camera with the perfect view makes it pretty obvious what happened. The ground power, coming from the jet-bridge caused a short somewhere, at or near the plug-in point. Contrary to what I've just read, I am not so sure that the problem was in the power cord. There may have been a short due to faulty electrical parts or circuitry on the airplane.
In order to plug power from the jet bridge into the plane so that the aircraft's APU engine can be shut down, that bridge must be driven up. (There's an interlock system to prevent one from moving it with power plugged in. This prevents bent aircraft sheet metal over the years.) From 21:28:10 to :30, the one ramp guy has opened the small hatch, lowered the electrical cable to the ground , and plugged it in. There was no immediate spark or fire. The same guy made the signal to the Captain that power was connected at ~ :45***** He would cut off the APU and let the power switch to ground power after giving a thumbs-up agreement and "thanks".
There's no way to tell from this view exactly when the power actually switched, but it was only then that we see black smoke and then flames right afterwards. Here's when we can start judging the whole resulting scene.
I won't comment on the process of evacuation (good call to do it, of course). Commenters note the lack of anyone's use of nearby hand fire extinguishers for a good long time. This is an electrical fire and in an open space, so I doubt water or halon would do anything much, but did all these ramp guys know that? (In the words of the old Jaws movie, "Were they very, very smart or very, very stupid?")
Obviously, the power must be cut off and/or the cord unplugged. Within a couple of seconds after his having seen the flames, the same ramp guy does run under the bridge. I believe he went for the red stop button there, maybe an emergency stop button, and maybe even a real lever-type circuit-box switch. I can't see due to the smoke puff in the way. Then, the guy runs toward the First Officer's side to signal what was going on. He might have thought these guys could do something. The pilots could have cut off power to the plane systems, but I doubt that'd have done any good. The same ramp guy then ran back to the bridge, either to cut power the first time, or just to make sure there's nothing more he could do.
Pulling the cord out is not something I'd have attempted either, what with molten rubber, or metal even, dripping down. It was hot there! That ramp guy did a good job. The one guy backed the belt loader away after a little while.
Therefore, looking at this more than just with a quick glance at a bunch of people running around, I don't think this video shows anything close to Peak Stupidity. It's just ... I mean if the plane can smoke and all, why can't the passengers?
PS: How could the power not be cut off though, once someone went for the EMER button? That makes me wonder if it was indeed an aircraft problem. Was the APU not cut off, and it somehow kept current flowing in this area? There was no problem until the cord was plugged in though. Also, how'd this same jet bridge power do on the last plane at that gate, just an hour or so before?
I guess this will all be figured out. These things are expensive. Those slides cost more than car airbags, and we're probably talking hundreds of thousands of bucks in damage here.
* For both of those incidents - the Delta 757 on the ground at Atlanta Hartsfield and the United 777 climbing out of SFO - it's not clear to me whether the problem was design, Q/A, or maintenance, the first 2 being Boeing or supplier failures, and the latter being the airlines'.
** Maybe even in the short run. See those 2 (now!) big boat / bridge collisions.
*** That wasn't meant to be 2 factorial, but it's still correct if you take it that way.
**** For example, when that 737 broke its left main gear at the big Houston airport (KIAH), it was not the airplane's fault. Headlines: "Boeing 737 landing gear collapses and airplane goes into the grass." Well, "and" is not wrong, but it implies a sequence. What happened was "Boeing 737 goes into the grass and landing gear collapses." (This story is pretty clear cut.)
***** Unfortunately, the camera clock is gone from the video for a short while here. Using the youtube time is very rough.
Comments:
Moderator
Thursday - May 16th 2024 9:04PM MST
PS: Haha, Alarmist, I saw that coming.
The Alarmist
Thursday - May 16th 2024 1:33PM MST
PS
Must have been Johnny....
https://youtu.be/ucdZHR75iCM
Must have been Johnny....
https://youtu.be/ucdZHR75iCM