United Airlines 757 Evacuated at Sea-Tac Due to Fire
United Airlines Boeing 757
A United Airlines plane had to be evacuated Saturday night at Seattle-Tacoma Airport when a small fire broke out on the aircraft.
United Flight 776, a Boeing 757, was set to takeoff for Washington Dulles International Airport at 10:30 PM. The Port of Seattle Fire Department responded to the report of a fire at 10:27 PM.
All the passengers were evacuated safely and there were no reported injuries.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the fire might be traceable to residual oil in the auxiliary power unit, which is located in the plane’s tail. The fire was quickly extinguished.
The airliner was taken out of service for an examination.
Passengers were put on a later flight.
Image: Flickr [skinnylawyer]
Category: Airnation
Yikes, glad everyone made it off OK! And for the sake of United i hope the plane involved was the one in the picture above… While they’re fixing the tail they can swap out the mismatched radome!!
so much for preventative maintence
Going to travel this coming Friday. Taking United. Anybody giving odds if I will have to disembark using the slide vs the walkway. Being United I will bet on the slide.
It just dawned on me, I will be going pretty close to United main office. I am going to check to see if their windows all have slides as well. I think the corporate lack of safety concerns may stretch to the corporate office building.
It no secret that United is outsourcing 80% of it’s maintenance now to foreign MRO’s. China’s AMECO has large contracts from United management. Cheap Maintenance from a company with 2500 Chinese mechanics that do not speak “ENGLISH.” Ameco is one of the largest MRO’s in the world!
The FAA rarely has US Inspectors there to check things out! While United Mechanics arelosing their jobs in the US.
Cheap maintenance provides poor aircraft reliability.
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/asian-skies/2012/06/i-spent-a-few-days.html
We are fools as we allow corporate greed to destroy the US Aero Space Industry
Richard Wyeroski
Richard, is there a way to find out if this 757 has it’s maintenance in the US or overseas? From what they’re describing, it definitely looks like a maintenance related cause!
United’s 757s are done in two locations, both here in the states, one in Orlando (for pre-merger Continental 757s), and San Francisco (for pre-merger United 757s). Although these two should begin mixing soon. The Orlando location also handles all 737s.
United doesn’t have a contract with AMECO. They do however have a contract with HAECO in Hong Kong. But that’s almost exclusively for aircraft upgrades (interior modifications, winglets, AVOD, etc) for their widebody aircraft (777 and 767, and I assume 747 if/when United begins upgrading them). HAECO isn’t involved in any maintenance for United.
All maintenance on United’s fleet is done almost exclusively here in the States. In United’s hubs (Houston, Newark, Denver, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Cleveland) and in addition Orlando.
Oops. Just re-read that. Some clarification- United’s 757 heavy checks and major upgrades are done in San Francisco (PMUA 757s and Orlando (PMCO 757). But basic maintenance is done throughout all of United’s hubs (+Orlando).
Since this was a pre-merger United aircraft (PMUA) its maintenance was probably done at SFO, LAX, DEN, and ORD.
Wouldn’t make much sense for United to fly a narrowbody with only 4000nm range all the way to China for a maintenance that can easily be done in the states.
Hi All;
I need to comment on “WHERE” United and the the “Airlines” is doing most of their maintenance. Simply, “third world countries” to save money. 20 cents on the dollar compared to European and American service centers!…..CHEAP DEFECTIVE MAINTENANCE
(Ameco signs deal with United)
http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:388668c6-b459-4ea7-941e-a0a2206d415f&plckPostId=Blog:388668c6-b459-4ea7-941e-a0a2206d415fPost:62225bd3-996d-4faa-b88f-57bd0e6b9e2a
The smaller aircraft have heavy inspections done overseas as well, El Salvador, South America, Mexico,and Korea, as well as Smaller “NON-UNION” service facilities in the US. (owned by foreign countries!)
It is cheap maintenance, and I am sorry to said poor maintenance.
Why do we read in AirNation every day about depressurization, smoke in the cockpit and engine failure emergency returns!…..WHERE IS THE MAINTENANCE DONE ON THESE AIRCRAFT.
Believe me the FAA is keeping this a big secret.
Now add in TWIN-JET long over water flights and you have big problems ahead.
The FAA in Washington DC is responsible for allowing this.
We need to tell Congress that FAA manages Huerta, Gilligan, Allen and Secretary LaHood in the DOT are not doing their jobs protecting the American people!
(this really sucks!)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/third-world-mechanics-paid-2-per-hour-for-boeing-a/nDNwr/
(TWU tries to warn the government)
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=45&articleid=20110407_45_E1_Arepor109652
So let us all wait until we lose an aircraft and it will be at the bottom of the ocean and the FAA/NTSB will take years to investigate. A big political game if I ever saw one!
Richard Wyeroski, former FAA Inspector
FAA WHISTLEBLOWERS ALLIANCE
Richard,
Is there any quality control for “parts” at these overseas maintenance facilities? I know several years ago there was a lot of controversy surrounding counterfeit aircraft parts here in the US, so bad that some counterfeit parts ended up on Air Force One!
Chris:
The FAA will say there is quality control. FAA Inspectors sit at their desks and look at a computer system and check boxes they they accept the maintenance report!
This is the Air Transportation Oversight System ATOS. No FAA Inspector has been physically going overseas to eyeball anything for years.
This gem ATOS was pushed by the last FAA management team that was forced to retire of be fired.
It does not work. Allows for corruption to run rampant and is a waste of millions and millions of dollars to keep this “BOONDOGGLE” running
(take a look at this GOBBLYGOOK)
http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/atos/
There is literally no government surveillance on parts manufacturing for aircraft and engines, which has allowed bogus parts to run rampant!
This is in my opinion CRIMINAL……!!!
Richard Wyeroski
This is what i was afraid about… I hope it doesn’t come back to bite United (and others) in the behind. Because in the end, it will be the passengers who suffer. An accident every 10 years is just the cost of doing business i suppose; it’s cheaper than having to do the maintenance correctly.
Chris and William,
To support the failure to properly maintain aircraft by MRO’s, even in the US, please take a look at the Miles O’Brien video at the attached link.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flying-cheaper/
It exposes MAE and ST located in Mobile AL conducting all types of violations and dangerous practices. The video is 19:44 long but for anyone that is seriously interested in an evaluation of some very troubling practices and some very unprofessional responses from FAA’s own Peggy Gilligan, it should be a “must see”. They even show where they hid the SUP’s prior to the “Announced” FAA inspection. United and others are mentioned specifically. This should answer a lot of questions as to what is going on behind the FAA logo and its failure to regulate the aviation industry and provide a reasonable amount of protection against this very dangerous development within the industry.
That’s a good film! I’m not even slightly surprised this is going on even here in the US. Airlines are doing whatever they can to stay in business even if it means decreased quality control in the maintenance areas.
Chris:
One more point on this. Foreign Countries are setting up Maintenance and Repair shops MRO’s in the USA. These companies are “IMPORTING” labor!
to live and work at these facilities.
Just this in it self has caused problems and it cost many US jobs and the FAA is looking the other way!
The other side of the coin is, are we also importing terrorists?
How sick is this situation
Rich Wyeroski
Rich, i never thought of that! I do feel bad for all the Americans that have been fired in exchange for cheap labor from foreigners. It’s a sad state we’re in…