Air China A333 at Beijing on Aug 27th 2019, aircraft on fire at the gate

Last Update: August 28, 2019 / 15:15:46 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Air China B-5958, Airbus A330-300 — Air China B-5958, Airbus A330-300 (Photo credit: Support your local Air Museum! (HawkeyeUK) / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 27, 2019

Classification
Accident

Airline
Air China

Flight number
CA-183

Departure
Beijing, China

Destination
Tokyo Haneda, Japan

Aircraft Registration
B-5958

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300

ICAO Type Designator
A333

An Air China Airbus A330-300, registration B-5958 performing flight CA-183 from Beijing (China) to Tokyo Haneda (Japan), was boarding for departure, when smoke emanated from the aircraft prompting a rapid disembarkation of the people on board, cabin and flight crew vacated the aircraft via the jet bridge after all passengers. Emergency services responded and extinguished a fire in the forward cargo hold. There were no injuries, the aircraft received substantial damage.

The airline reported: "On August 27th Beijing time, the CA183 flight from Beijing to Tokyo, during the passenger boarding, found that the cargo space in front of the aircraft smoked, the crew quickly took fire-fighting measures and organized the safe evacuation of all passengers. The specific cause of the incident is under investigation."

The aircraft had arrived as flight CA-976 from Singapore (Singapore) about two hours earlier.

On Aug 28th 2019 China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) released preliminary information reporting the flight was about to carry 167 passengers, 3 flight crew, 11 cabin crew and one security officer. 147 people were on board of the aircraft already when the crew heard unusual noises under the floor near the L2 hatch and smelled a pungent odour, shortly followed by an ECAM indication "SMOKE/FWD CARGO SMOKE". The crew performed the ECAM actions, discharged the fire extinguishing agent into the foward cargo hold, declared Mayday and initiated the rapid disembarkation through the jet bridge, cabin crew followed by the flight crew disembarked last (editorial note: the editor was able to see - but not carry - a video of the rapid disembarkation on Aug 27th 2019). Emergency services arrived at 16:54L and extinguished the fire at 17:45L. The fire resulted in substantial damage to the aircraft including a burn through the crown of the aircraft. According to the cargo manifest following goods were loaded:

(1) Front cargo compartment:
Cargo waybill number: 131-83879655
Number of pieces: 88 pieces
Cargo weight: 1683 kg
Product name: car air pump, plastic box, storage bag (100% polyester), standard fixed focus head, hot shoe flash 560IV, hot shoe flash 560III, toys, sticky notes, decorative flowers, ladies dresses, plastic furniture products.

Cargo waybill number: 131-83892583
Number of pieces: 3 pieces
Cargo weight: 1704 kg
cargo name: mixed cargo
Distributing single product name: pump parts, suction bell tube, diversion shell, impeller consignor: Shenyang QIYUAN Industrial Pump Production Co., Ltd. Shipping agent: before the new era, the cargo hold is loaded with the above goods, no baggage.

(2) After the lower cargo hold:
Goods were waybill number: 131-83880941
Number of pieces: 50 pieces
Cargo weight: 831 kg
Product name: clothing, wind chimes

Cargo waybill number: 131-83881512
Number of pieces: 64 pieces
Cargo weight: 1242 kg (the total number of goods in this ticket is 84, 1644 kg. Another 20 pieces, 402 kg not yet shipped)
Product name: backpack, phone pendant, jacket

Freight waybill number: 999-70796692
Number of pieces: 17 pieces
Cargo weight: 336 kg
Product Name: Sweater Pants Underwear

(3) Bulk cargo space:
Cargo waybill number: 999-70776716
Number of pieces: 9 pieces
Cargo weight: 115 kg
Cargo name: Mixed goods Sweater

An investigation commission has been formed and shall issue a final report to the CAAC as soon as the investigation is completed.

In the meantime other Chinese carriers have instructed their maintenance and safety departments to immediately examine the oxygen systems on all aircraft with special equipment for high altitude airport operations (permitting operation at airports above 8000 feet MSL).