SIA A333 Cargo Fire And Emergency Landing With 117 Onboard

[Black Ram]

Accident: Singapore A333 near Bangkok on Apr 22nd 2013, cargo fire

A Singapore Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration 9V-STO performing flight SQ-446 from Singapore (Singapore) to Dhaka (Bangladesh) with 105 passengers and 12 crew, was enroute at FL350 about 120nm southwest of Bangkok (Thailand) when the crew received a cargo fire indication, activated the cargo fire suppression system and decided to divert to Bangkok. During the descent towards Bangkok a burning smell developed on board of the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely on Bangkok's runway 19R about 20 minutes later. Emergency services responded, the passengers disembarked via stairs, after opening of the aft cargo door a plume of smoke became visible, fire services sprayed the cargo bay and needed more than 2 hours to control the situation. There were no injuries, the cargo was damaged, the damage to the aircraft is being assessed.

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4613943a

[TeeVee]

so clearly, evidence the airbus' cargo bay fire suppression system does not work.

[B757300]

Originally Posted by TeeVee

so clearly, evidence the airbus' cargo bay fire suppression system does not work.

Perhaps, or it could have been something burning that the fire suppression system was unable to put out.

The infamous lithium batteries are notoriously hard to extinguish. IIRC, when they burn, they generate their own oxygen.

[Black Ram]

Originally Posted by TeeVee

so clearly, evidence the airbus' cargo bay fire suppression system does not work.

Reading comments on some of the other sites, everyone is happy with the performance. This happened at FL350, they made a descent, taking more than 20 min and landed safely. If you think about it, how often do you hear stories of cargo fire ending so smoothly? I think the reason for the fire is more of a concern. It's dangerous and unacceptable.

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by B757300

The infamous lithium batteries are notoriously hard to extinguish. IIRC, when they burn, they generate their own oxygen.

I very much doubt that's the case.
The reason why these batteries are so hard to extinguish is because they generate heat by means other then combustion.

When you put out the flames, if there is still something to burn and oxygen, they just re-ignite themselves. You need to cool them down and keep them cool (that is, keep cooling them down until they exhausted their energy) to prevent a re-ignition.

If there is no oxygen, they will not burn in the traditional sense, but they can still be extremely hot due to the electrical energy they are releasing, and can do nasty things similar to burning things like melting plastics, degrading wires's insulation, etc. And when you open whatever oxygen-free chamber they might be in, they will now have oxygen available and will be able to burn again (if still hot enough).

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by Black Ram

Reading comments on some of the other sites, everyone is happy with the performance. This happened at FL350, they made a descent, taking more than 20 min and landed safely.

And with enough peace of mind to deplane via stairs, no emergency evacuation, so surely the cabin was not filled with smoke and nobody had their feet hot from the fire below them. Also, there is no evident damage in the plane.

I doubt that there was a real fire (open flames) at all. Or if there was one, it didn't last long. Had there been open flames for 20 minutes, I would have expected, in a best scenario, to hear of some systems malfunctions, some externally visible damage, an an emergency evacuation, and the plane all foamed upon landing.

[Black Ram]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

I doubt that there was a real fire (open flames) at all. Or if there was one, it didn't last long. Had there been open flames for 20 minutes, I would have expected, in a best scenario, to hear of some systems malfunctions, some externally visible damage, an an emergency evacuation, and the plane all foamed upon landing.

The investigation should show. Cargo fires tend to be very dangerous and whatever happened, there can be very little comfort with such an accident, even if it was a "small" fire. It's good this didn't end up like some of the other cases, fires have killed people even after a safe landing. Maybe it was luck, or maybe those fire suppression systems do work.

[TeeVee]

i find it hard to believe they worked when there was still smoke and fire after landing. not to mention the fact that it took fire services more than 2 hours to "control the situation."

i'm obviously not an engineer but it would seem that the cargo hold should be hermetically sealed-off from the passenger compartment and halon should be used. of course, animals would have to be kept separate from cargo as well.