A holiday jet carrying 229 passengers narrowly avoided disaster when a wheelchair stored in the hold burst into flames shortly after landing at Manchester airport. Ground staff unloading baggage from the hold of the First Choice holiday jet noticed blue sparks coming from the chair, it was revealed today. The chair was removed from the Boeing 727-200 jet and placed on a vehicle – where it immediately burst into flames and was destroyed.
The scare happened on Sunday September 7, when the First Choice flight FCA 2662 jet landed in the early hours of the morning after a flight from Fuerteventura. A spokeswoman for Manchester Airport praised the ground handling staff who “spotted the hazard and reacted quickly.” The battery on the wheelchair should have been disconnected in the Canary Islands, she added.
The scare today prompted the Civil Aviation Authority to issue a warning to passengers about the dangers of “seemingly innocuous items,” said a spokesman. Geoff Leach, manager of the Dangerous Goods Office at the CAA, said: “Thankfully no-one was injured as a result of the Manchester incident. “The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but it does highlight the need for passengers to be extremely vigilant when taking items on board aircraft.
The fire started in an overhead locker in an aircraft that had just taken off from New York JFK Airport. Cabin crew managed to extinguish the fire, but the aircraft had to return to New York for an emergency landing.
Seems like the warning, if not already a standard baggage procedure, should be given to the airlines?
Someone needs to visit a head slapping evangelist and make their ass walk.
They’re still flying 727s? Holy cow!
So much for a “service industry”
Some service
Wonder how good the food was onboard ? – the pizza and beer
Misleading if you dont read the full article:
wheelchair in hold bursts into flames, next paragraph states “The fire started in an overhead locker …”
How do you fit a wheelchair in an overhead locker, I wish I could achieve that with my luggage.
Oh God, prepare for more TSA inspections of wheelchair-bound passengers.
Magic blue smoke = bomb.
Code red, stat!
“Civil Aviation Authority to issue a warning to passengers about the dangers of ‘seemingly innocuous items,’ said a spokesman. ”
Ya, who they hell do these people think they are, bring their wheel chairs on Holiday with them. Frankly I think they should ban disabled people from flying… in fact, why don’t they just ban flying all together. Obviously it is just too damn dangerous!
Bullsheeeit! I’ve seen lot’s of powered wheelchairs and there ain’t no way in hell you gettin’ one of those bigass chairs in a tiny little overhead locker. Even if you took the time to partially disassemble it to fit it in there, those things are too heavy for those bins.
#5: Misleading if you dont read the full article:
wheelchair in hold bursts into flames, next paragraph states “The fire started in an overhead locker …”
Read it again. The overhead locker fire was on another flight.
Imagine that wheelchair in an electric car and both batteries explode.
Giggle. Passengers should be aware that items that are “”relatively innocuous in everyday use, are capable of posing a serious risk to the occupants of an aircraft””. Afterall, it isn’t like the airline would hire baggage handlers who understood the dangers of “relatively innocuous” items and the dangers that they could possibly pose!! That would be called professionalism, and they just can’t get that when seeking qualified individuals who can handle baggage, also pass the homeland security background check, and be willing to work for a dollar or two above minimum wage after a little on-the-job experience.
“The battery on the wheelchair should have been disconnected in the Canary Islands …” – So apparently they have a proceedure for handling powered wheelchairs, but perhaps this one had those Li-Ion batteries that spontaneously burst into flames – like the laptops and iPods !!!
JimD said,[…]perhaps this one had those Li-Ion batteries that spontaneously burst into flames – like the laptops and iPods !!!
Could it be an iChair?
J/P=?
#13 J Paradox – you must mean WAS, since it burned to the ground !!!
Gives a whole new meaning to “Hot Wheels”.
To me, it appears the wheel chair short circuited and caught fire. A little different than the battery exploding.