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Sunday, November 1, 2015

Dynamic Airways Boeing 767 catches fire at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport

Fort Lauderdale, is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast 23 miles (37 km) north of Miami. The city is a popular tourist destination. The district is known for its hotels and motels with lot of cruise ships coming calling.  There are more than 100 marinas  housing thousands of  yachts.  Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale,  younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort.

An aircraft is always an wonder ! - Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a business unit of The Boeing Company, has manufactured  more than 10,000 Boeing commercial jetliners in service, flying passengers and freight.  According to its website, a  record 5,500 Boeing airplanes are currently on order. Boeing Commercial Airplanes, headquartered in Seattle, Wash., employs more than 83,000 people worldwide. Of the many from its stables, Boeing 767 is a mid- to large-size, long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner.   It was Boeing's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft has two turbofan engines.  According to an airliner info web – it costs approx $92,000,000 [ a mind boggling 602 crores  !!]     

Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, lies in Florida between Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach. The airport is near cruise line terminals at Port Everglades and is popular among tourists bound for the Caribbean. It is the largest base for Spirit Airlines, catering mainly to the airline's international to domestic network.  It is in news as passengers reportedly fled – due to a jet bursting into flames while preparing to take off in Florida.  The airport was temporarily closed but has since reopened

A report in Daily Mail states that a plane caught fire at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida airport on Thursday, sending passengers fleeing for their lives out of the aircraft's emergency slides. Photos and video from the scene show the Dynamic Airways plane engulfed in thick black flames around 12:30pm before airport firefighters came and extinguished the fire with a white foam. The fire has since been completely extinguished and everyone safely taken off the plane.

According the report, there were 101 people on board,  23  were injured and taken to the hospital, including a child. One person suffered serious - though not life threatening - burns while the rest had minor injuries. The uninjured were placed on buses and taken back to a terminal.  It is stated that when the Boeing caught fire on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.  The reports puts the origin of  fire appears to have started by a fuel leak in the left engine. The fire started as the plane was taxiing for take off. 

A pilot taxiing behind the plane alerted air traffic control that the plane was leaking fuel right before it caught fire. 'Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!'  said the Air traffic controller, moments later. The plane was on its way to Caracas, Venezuela, and charring on the aircraft suggests the fire started in the left engine.

One passenger is quoted as saying - 'We spent probably 30 to 40 seconds before they opened the door. It was pretty nerve-racking to know the door wasn’t opening and something was on fire.' Firefighters at the airport were able to quickly put out the flames as the passengers and crew escaped out of the passenger slides – it was a Boeing 767 operating for Dynamic Airways.  Airport firefighters extinguished  the flames with a white foam flame retardant before moving in to the investigate. The FAA released a statement saying: 'Dynamic International Airways 405 apparently caught fire on Taxiway B while taxiing for departure from Runway 28 Right at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.  The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed they are sending a four-person team to investigate the fire.

Following the fire, the airport was closed down and flights diverted to other regional airports. The airport  reportedly reopened after a few hours. Dynamic Airways is a small airline founded in 2010. The company is based in Greensboro, North Carolina and connects New York, Fort Lauderdale, Venezuela and Guyana.  The plane that caught fire on Thursday was built in 1986 and is one of the oldest versions of the 767 model.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

30th Oct 2o15

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