ASA RJ Electrical Fire

derg

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
Staff member
ASA_CRJ_200_004.jpg

Holy cow, what's the story with this?
 
ASA Airlines flight 5533, a Bombardier CRJ-200, experienced a cockpit fire on the ground shortly after external power was applied to the airplane in preparation for flight. The captain and one flight attendant evacuated the airplane via an airstair without injuries. They were the only individuals on the airplane at the time. The fire department extinguished the fire after it had burned an approximate 18 inch hole through the left upper cockpit crown skin. The flight, intended to be conducted as Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 scheduled service, was to be flown from Tallahassee Regional Airport (TLH), Tallahassee, Florida, to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia.
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N830AS
 
LoadMasterC141 said:
I was gonna say....Looks like a lightning strike.
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BobDDuck said:
Really? I don't think so. I've seen a rather large amount of lighting strike damage and I've never seen one that even remotely looked like that.
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the article is small so I will save everyone a couple of clicks:

<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">April 11, 2009
ASA CRJ Holed By Fire </td> <td class="copy" valign="top"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> By Russ Niles, Editor-in-Chief


<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td>
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</td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
asalightning.jpg

While we like a good story as much as anyone, those facts are pesky things. Some remarkable pictures making the rounds on the Internet show a big hole burned in the skin of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines CRJ 200 and attribute the cause to an inflight lightning strike, which, considering the location behind the captain's head, conjures up some pretty interesting scenarios, much more interesting than the mundane reality. Within hours of running a photo and the lightning strike speculation, an AVweb reader delivered the straight goods by way of NTSB file number DCA09FA033, which suggests the cause was an electrical fire while the aircraft was being preflighted in Tallahassee for a trip to Atlanta last March 1.

According to the report, only the captain and a flight attendant were on board when external power was plugged in. The fire started shortly afterward and they both got out on the airstair. Neither was injured. There's not much detail in the NTSB report, which is preliminary, but it's been suggested that a breach in an oxygen line helped fan the flames and create the aluminum-melting temperatures.
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<center>NTSB Identification: DCA09FA033
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST AIRLINES INC
Accident occurred Sunday, March 01, 2009 in Tallahassee, FL
Aircraft: BOMBARDIER CRJ, registration: N830AS
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.</center>​

<center>This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.</center>​

ASA Airlines flight 5533, a Bombardier CRJ-200, experienced a cockpit fire on the ground shortly after external power was applied to the airplane in preparation for flight. The captain and one flight attendant evacuated the airplane via an airstair without injuries. They were the only individuals on the airplane at the time. The fire department extinguished the fire after it had burned an approximate 18 inch hole through the left upper cockpit crown skin. The flight, intended to be conducted as Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 scheduled service, was to be flown from Tallahassee Regional Airport (TLH), Tallahassee, Florida, to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia.​
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Are you sure it wasn't caused by re-entry into the earth's atmosphere? I bet the FOQA crew is going to have a field day with that one...
 
I think it's remarkable it heated up enough to burn through the skin like that - but didn't spread more quickly to fully involve the contents of the inside of the airplane. Kinda wild.
 
Oxygen fires are strange things. They pretty much act like a blow torch and just burn what is in front of them. There really isn't THAT much that will continuously burn in that area of the RJ. Mostly stuff (including the metal) just melts.
 
BobDDuck said:
Really? I don't think so. I've seen a rather large amount of lighting strike damage and I've never seen one that even remotely looked like that.
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Yeah I guess your right, not that I would know either way. We got hit by lightning once in the 141. Besides feeling like god took a giant sledgehammer to the side of the plane, it only left a black mark where it first hit. That is my only experience though so I do not want to come off like I know what I am talking about. I just would have bought lightning strike as a laymen looking at it.
 
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