747 Riot Strands Passengers....

[FN FAL]

"Peter Hill, 46, from the Isle of Wight said the engineer’s face went "white" and the take-off was delayed."

April 04, 2005

Screaming Britons force Thai airline to stop flight
By Madeleine Acey, Times Online

Screaming British tourists forced a Thai airline to let them off a long-haul flight last night after seeing fuel pouring from the wing of a jumbo jet as it prepared to take off.

The holidaymakers, flying back to Gatwick from Bangkok on Phuket Air, said they were horrified to see aviation fuel "gushing" from Boeing 747-200 on the runway after a refuelling stop at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

The airline was forced to let the passengers off after they halted the plane's second attempt to take off, some threatening to storm the cabin if the flight was not abandoned.

But a representative for the airline said today that the passengers had never been in any danger and had simply "panicked".

The initial leak had led to passengers being taken off the aircraft after an engineer was called to the cabin to view the fuel escape from the passengers' windows. Peter Hill, 46, from the Isle of Wight said the engineer’s face went "white" and the take-off was delayed.

Passengers said staff then tried to clear the excess fuel with sticks.

Dr Hill’s niece, Harriet Packham, 17, said: " "When we got back on the plane everyone was just eyeing the window, everyone was just watching the window, watching for drips.

"There were a few drips at the beginning, then we turned around the corner to go on the runway and there was just loads, gallons of fuel came out, it was just terrible. We really didn’t think that they were going to stop.

"All the air stewards were just saying ‘Oh, calm down, this is normal’. All the information we got was in Thai."

Dr Hill said that in the second incident: "Fuel was gushing out of the wing, 70 people hysterically shouting ‘Stop the plane, stop the plane’, which they did. If they hadn’t, who knows?

"We were just worried that the whole thing was going to ignite. It was just unbelievable."

Debbie Phillips, 45, from Northampton, said: "The panic in the plane... it was just a ripple... people were standing up, shouting, screaming, and in fear for their lives, it was awful."

Her husband, Steve, 47, said: "You had the feeling that if it had gone any further something definitely would have gone wrong."

More than 300 Britons were stranded for hours at Sharjah airport overnight as they waited for alternative flights home. Some managed to get back this morning, but the Foreign Office said others would not resume their journeys until this afternoon.

Gordon MacFarland, Phuket Air’s UK sales and marketing manager, said that the leak had been caused by an overfilling of the fuel tanks on the aircraft. But no one had been in any danger and the passengers had panicked.

He said: "The first time the plane attempted to take off from Sharjah passengers of the left-hand side of the aircraft reported a fuel leak and the plane returned to the stand. It was found that the plane had been overfilled with fuel but there was no technical or mechanical problem.

"On the second attempted takeoff a passenger jumped up and shouted fire and this caused panic. No warning light came on in the cockpit but the crew could not get the passengers to sit down and the plane had to be taken back to the stand."

Mr MacFarland added: "Again, no problem was found, but people refused to get back on board so we put them up overnight. It’s crazy to say gallons of fuel were leaking out. Are passengers really qualified to know what’s going on?

"There was no danger to passengers. People sometimes panic. These passengers had come from a tsunami-hit area and were probably nervous. A few people panicked and caused the rest of the aircraft to panic."

David Morrow, of the internet news service Air Transport Intelligence, said: "Fuel does occasionally seep out of aircraft, but from passenger accounts, this incident sounds something quite serious. Although aviation fuel is different to what you put in your car, it’s still fairly volatile stuff. However, I have never known a fuel leak bring down a plane."

 

[jobear]

Are passengers really qualified to know what’s going on?

In this case yes!!!!

 

[CSY Mon]

No big deal.


The 747 have surge tanks in the wingtips in case of overfueling or thermal
expansion. The excess fule may be drained back into the inboard main tanks, or vented overboard.

That is probably what happened.

No limitations on T/O with fuel venting.

Heck, ya can take-off while jettison fuel at a rate of 6000 lbs per minute with no problem...Now that should really be a concern with the pax.
(Not that there would be any reason to jettison fuel before V1, BUT some third world airline did jettison fuel on the taxiway some years back while waiting their turn for T/O..Reason was they were over max weight and remembered from ground school that there was no limitations or restrictions on fuel jettison. )

Aye, venting from the expansion tanks happened to me once i Boston:
Fuel pissed out of the wings and onto the ground, then drained into the harbor via the gutters.
The airport police and fire department went ape-sh!t as there is no way of stopping the fuel from venting once it starts.