A Venezuela-bound passenger jet preparing to take off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport caught fire, forcing passengers to escape from the cabin on emergency slides, reports sun-sentinel.com
Of the 101 passengers and crew aboard the Dynamic International Airways Boeing 767 jetliner, 15 were injured and taken to local hospitals, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said.
One person suffered burns that were not life-threatening, while the rest had bumps, bruises and sprains or were feeling the stress of the experience, he said.
Flight 405 was bound for Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas. At about 12:30 p.m., an aircraft taxiing behind the Dynamic jet reported that fuel was leaking from it before the fire began, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said.
Because of the potential for disaster with an aircraft fire, the FAA won’t certify a plane unless a full load of volunteer passengers can evacuate within 90 seconds while half of the available exits are blocked.
After studying several real aircraft fires, the National Transportation Safety Board found that many passengers delayed their exits in order to grab carry-on items, fearing they’ll lose money, wallets or credit cards.
The Boeing 767 that caught fire appears to be the airline’s first serious accident, safety board records show. It was manufactured in 1986 and was one of the earliest versions of that airliner.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has a good safety record that is more than a half-century long.
周四的事故是空气田中为数不起的严重事件之一，自1959年商业航空公司服务开始以来，该事故尚未发生致命的客机崩溃。
The fire was also the most serious fire there since May, 1972, when an Eastern Airlines DC-9 crash-landed on a runway during a thunderstorm. That jet broke apart and into flames. None of the six passengers or four crew members aboard was seriously injured.
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