Quote:
Originally Posted by shoei
Are you able to detail the findings? So nothing could've been done to prevent except not having taken off?
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On the roll down the runway, they hit a part that had fallen off the jet that took off right before them (a ring from the engine cowling, if I recall correctly). That blew a tire, which flew apart. The carcass from the tire impacted the fuel storage tank in the wing above it. The shock wave from that impact created holes in the fuel tank. The fuel started leaking out and was instantly turned into a mist which collected in the landing gear well. In the landing gear well was a fan for cooling the brakes upon landing. That fan had a short in the wiring, which caused a spark, which ignited the fuel. Once the fuel ignited, they were doomed. They were already moving too fast to abort the takeoff, and once they got in the air, one engine died because it was ingesting burning fuel. The co-pilot tried to shut down the burning engine, but inadvertently shut down the other engine that was still running. Although even if that hadn't happened, the drag from the fire slowed them to stalling speed. The aircraft basically fell like a pancake out of the sky and landed on a hotel, killing people there as well.
The big issue was that the exact same incident had happened years before with an SST taking off out of Dulles, except that time the fuel did not ignite and the aircraft was able to return to Dulles and land safely. But they knew that a blown tire could rupture the fuel tank and did nothing to correct it.