Air Dolomiti AT72 at Munich on Aug 24th 2008, brakes fire taxiing out

Last Update: August 24, 2015 / 14:14:52 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 24, 2008

Classification
Accident

Flight number
EN3990

Aircraft Registration
I-ADLW

Aircraft Type
ATR ATR-72-200

ICAO Type Designator
AT72

An Air Dolomiti Aerospatiale ATR-72-200, registration I-ADLW performing flight EN3990/LH3990 from Munich (Germany) to Bologna (Italy) with 59 passengers and 4 crew, was taxiing out for takeoff, when the left main gear caught fire, sending a plume of smoke over the airport. The crew stopped the airplane and evacuated the airplane, then arriving fire trucks extinguished the wheel fire. One passenger received a serious, a crew member received a minor injury during evacuation.

The airline said, that the main damage is the tyres and the ground time to inspect the airplane before it can enter service again.

The German BFU (German Accident Investigators) said on September 5th, that the crew had rejected takeoff and had taxied off the runway. It is currently assumed, that the already hot brake didn't completely release after the rejected takeoff.

On Aug 24th 2015 the BFU released their final report without a formal conclusion but reporting:

Damage to the aircraft related to the left main landing gear and the surrounding fuselage fairing (see photo).

Examination of the left landing gear showed that a brake cylinder on the inner wheel of the left landing gear had ruptured. Two others had been deformed. The brake was examined in detail at the component manufacturer in the presence of the French safety investigation authority BEA, and the examination revealed that the damages had been caused by overheating. A thermal analysis determined that normal taxiing to the runway, rejected take-off, and the taxiing back to the taxi hold point could not heat up the brake to an extent which would cause the found damages.

Fire

Inspection of the aircraft on-site revealed that fire started on the inner of the two tyres on the left main landing gear. The fire then spread to the outer tyre and the landing gear fuselage fairing immediately above. The fuselage area above the landing gear was blackened by soot.

The Airport Fire Service extinguished the fire before it could spread further into the fuselage and wing.

The BFU reported that the aircraft had been cleared for takeoff from runway 26L but did not instantly begin the takeoff roll. About 40 seconds later tower advised they needed to commence takeoff now otherwise an aircraft on approach would need to go around. The ATR began the takeoff roll. 6 seconds later tower cancelled the takeoff clearnace and instructed the aircraft to vacate the runway via the first right exit. The aircraft was subsequently cleared to return to the holding point runway 26L via taxiway T. After arriving at the holding point the crew noticed high brakes temperatures, declined a query by tower whether they were ready for an immediate departure. About 70 seconds after that query the crew of another aircraft advised their left main gear appeared to be on fire. Tower alerted emergency services. During the subsequent emergency evacuation of the aircraft one passenger broke her left forearm, a crew member received minor injuries.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 24, 2008

Classification
Accident

Flight number
EN3990

Aircraft Registration
I-ADLW

Aircraft Type
ATR ATR-72-200

ICAO Type Designator
AT72

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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