Delta B752 at New York on Jul 7th 2016, engine fire
Last Update: July 20, 2018 / 20:46:54 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jul 7, 2016
Classification
Incident
Cause
Engine fire
Airline
Delta Airlines
Flight number
DL-2288
Departure
New York JFK, United States
Destination
San Diego, United States
Aircraft Registration
N706TW
Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200
ICAO Type Designator
B752
A passenger reported that immediately after becoming airborne a loud bang was heard, all lights and screens went out and the aircraft levelled off shortly afterwards.
A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N3766 reached San Diego with a delay of about 4 hours.
The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in New York 52 hours after landing back.
On Nov 8th 2017 the NTSB reported the aircraft was climbing through 300 feet AGL after takeoff from JFK when the crew received a right hand engine fire warning, declared emergency and returned to JFK Airport. An actual undercowl fire had caused the fire warning. The NTSB rated the occurrence an incident and is investigating.
On Jul 12th 2018 the NTSB released their factual report reporting the crew received a fire warning for the right hand engine at approximately 400 feet AGL, shut the engine down, the fire indication extinguished. As result the crew did not discharge any of the fire bottles. A post flight inspection revealed thermal damage to the right hand nacelle, a hole was found in the inboard core cowl consistent with burn through.
Examination of the engine showed no evidence of a mechanical failure or uncontainment. A fuel leak at the FFT (fuel flow transmitter)-to-fuel OUT tube joint was identified to have fed the fire.
The engine had recently undergone maintenance following reports of abnormal fuel flow signals. On Jul 6th 2016 the FFT was replaced but did not correct the problem. Another FFT was installed on Jul 7th 2016, a 10-15 minutes test run showed no leakages and the aircraft was released to service. The fire occurred on the first flight after that maintenance, shortly after takeoff.
Following the occurrence the NTSB described the maintenance actions: "The FFT, fuel IN line and fuel OUT line were removed as an assembly. Pressure was applied to the assembly and leakage was observed at the suspect joint. The fuel OUT tube was removed. The tube O-ring was found eroded and with a 90° arc of material missing. Both ends of the O-ring separation exhibited shallowly angled separations."
Further examination of the o-ring revealed the o-ring confirmed with the specifications. However, there were two cuts consistent with an installation error.
A review of the maintenance instructions revealed the instructions by Boeing AMM omitted an instruction to lubricate the o-rings prior to installation, erroneously instructed to place the o-rings on the FFT rather than into the fuel tube o-ring glands, and did not specify a torque value. The Delta instructions followed the Boeing instructions and thus contained the same omissions and errors.
On Jul 20th 2018 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:
Maintenance personnel's failure to ensure proper installation of a fuel tube O-ring, which resulted in an undercowl engine fire during initial climb.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jul 7, 2016
Classification
Incident
Cause
Engine fire
Airline
Delta Airlines
Flight number
DL-2288
Departure
New York JFK, United States
Destination
San Diego, United States
Aircraft Registration
N706TW
Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200
ICAO Type Designator
B752
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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