Alphafloor From Chile, joined Jun 2004, 1277 posts, RR: 45 Posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 35851 times:
Hi, I was with some fellow spotters this afternoon. There was nothing special. When suddenly a fellow spotter noticed a fuel leak coming out from the right wing of Nouvelair A320 TS-INB that was taxiing to take-off. The aircraft made a 180° and stopped just in front of us. The pilot shutted down the engines and soon the firefighters came and spreaded foam over the fuel. The passengers were deplaned. Here are some pictures I've taken during the incident.
There was even an ambulance to take a guy (maybe shocked?)
This is the second Nouvelair incident I saw in less than a month here in GVA!!
DIJKKIJK From France, joined Jul 2003, 1668 posts, RR: 5 Reply 7, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 35468 times:
Nice pics, alphafloor. Thanks for sharing
I'm not an expert on A320, but could the fuel be leaking out of the fuel jettison thing? If I'm correct, it is located at approximately the place where the fuel is leaking from.
could some expert comment?
Never argue with idiots. They will bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
Boeing Nut From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 35333 times:
Not to take anything away from the pictures, they are excellent. But IMO, the rescue crews took unnecessary measures dealing with the fuel. Maybe things are done differently in other parts of the world, but when I saw the first pic of the ARFF crews dousing the fuel with foam, my first reaction was, "why the hell are they doing that?" Many of you know that jet fuel in this type of state is rather stable, so IMO, this was an unnecessary action. Not to mention the fact that they probably freaked the hell out of some of the passengers.
Quoting Alphafloor (Reply 9): I'm not an expert on A320, but could the fuel be leaking out of the fuel jettison thing?
I think the A320 do not has a jettison.
Most narrow bodies don't have jettison capabilities. Usually, fuel leaking from this location is coming from an overflow valve. Fuel will come out of these valves when it's either faulty (obviously) or in an overflow situation. I've seen this numerous times during fueling operations where there has been a capacity miscalculation or the wrong switched was turned on/off..
BmiBaby737 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1635 posts, RR: 10 Reply 11, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 35278 times:
Quoting BOAC707 (Reply 8): And how come the fuel stopped flowing while the fire dudes were there?
Im no techno freak, but would it be because the Pilot turned off the engines and most likely stopped the fuel from going to that part of the aircraft?
Alphafloor From Chile, joined Jun 2004, 1277 posts, RR: 45 Reply 12, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 35284 times:
Quoting Boeing Nut (Reply 10): But IMO, the rescue crews took unnecessary measures dealing with the fuel. Maybe things are done differently in other parts of the world, but when I saw the first pic of the ARFF crews dousing the fuel with foam, my first reaction was, "why the hell are they doing that?" Many of you know that jet fuel in this type of state is rather stable, so IMO, this was an unnecessary action. Not to mention the fact that they probably freaked the hell out of some of the passengers.
I cannot agree more with you. That was also our opinion while watching the scene. Plus it was 8°C !
Quoting Boeing Nut (Reply 10): I've seen this numerous times during fueling operations where there has been a capacity miscalculation or the wrong switched was turned on/off..
I understand. But why this happened during taxi and not before ?
Boeing Nut From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 35179 times:
Quoting Alphafloor (Reply 12): I've seen this numerous times during fueling operations where there has been a capacity miscalculation or the wrong switched was turned on/off..
I understand. But why this happened during taxi and not before ?
Maybe a fuel transfer didn't go according to plan?
Tumbledgyro From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 8 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 34521 times:
Great pictures! My guess for the leak is a fuel transfer mix up or a stuck vent valve. I would think the crew transfered fuel to the left wing or possibly a fuselage tank, stopping the leak. I agree, the firefighters might have gone a little overboard, but there's nothing wrong to err on the side of safety. Plus, those guys don't get to play with the foam all to often. Let them have their fun. I'm sure a good announcement to the pax from the crew would calm most, if not all, fears.
RootsAir From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4179 posts, RR: 45 Reply 19, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 34338 times:
Quoting BA777 (Reply 17): Thats what I thought RootsAir (how are you BTW?)
My pics show the same things, I'm the one that spotted it leaking originally.
Henry
Hi Henry,
Alejandro told me you were the first one to notice!
I'm doing fine thanks. hope you arrived home well. Sorry if I couldn't make it. I had quite a lot to study and I wanted to get abit ahead given that I'm in BCN meet next week.
Have you already uploaded your pics into the database?
Take care
BM
A man without the knowledge of his past history,culture and origins is like a tree without roots
Flylku From United States of America, joined Apr 2006, 721 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 34308 times:
Is it me or did they get foam in the engine? If so that was a very expensive over reaction! Foam yes but - and I could be wrong - I can't imagine the protocol is to foam the engine. I'd hate to have to pay the bill to clean that up.
Of course had the situation gone south and they'd exercised restraint, the airmchaire fireman, like us, would have been all over them for holding back.
CPHGuard From Denmark, joined Jun 2006, 254 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 34087 times:
Quoting Flylku (Reply 21): I'd hate to have to pay the bill to clean that up.
I don't think the engine will be damaged. The foam consists of 99.9 % water, and Jet-engines can withstand quite some things.
I once saw a catering truck losing a hydraulic line, spraying approx. 50 liters into an A340 engine. After consulting the engine manufacter, they started up the engine, and it was running fine.
I think the Fire-brigade did the right thing. No need to take the chance, even though it's one in a million.
Swissy From Switzerland, joined Jan 2005, 1734 posts, RR: 5 Reply 23, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 33913 times:
Great pics!! lucky you....
Good job from the fire department, any idea how hot that engine was?? sure
jet fuel is more or less stable, however vapours occur...... a spark or hot heat source and sh.. will fly.
DeC From Greece, joined Aug 2005, 616 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days ago) and read 33530 times:
EXCELLENT! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photos from such a rarely seen incident!
DEC
25 Piercey: It's an optional feature, IIRC. Great pics. Is the plane still @ GVA and if so where?
26 N754PR: Thats what you call in on the action.. great pics.
27 Alphafloor: Thanks for the compliments, but honestly it was an easy task as the aircraft stopped right in front of us. The plane is still in GVA, I'll call tomor
28 HighFlyer9790: great pics! why would a guy need to go to hospital though?
29 Alphafloor: btw, some extra pictures of the firefighters are available on my own website They are on the bottom of the page.
30 Lostmoon744: Vacan! Nice shots. La cago. Good photographs.
31 Motopolitico: Holy Schnikes! Thar she blows! Like an upside-down geyser of kerosene! I watched a UPS MD-11's #3 engine do some sort of a mini-surge or stall when th
32 BMIFlyer: Woah Thankfully it was noticed before the bird took off. A job well done, and great pics too Lee
33 CO7e7: WOW... That's what i call being the right place at the right time! Thanks for sharing the pics. -Zaki
34 Piercey: I know, but the quality was very nice and you were at the right place at the right time and took some shots. Both deserve a compliment. Older guy wit
35 SpeedBird203: Really nice photos, This is gonna sound crazy but when i first saw the first one it looks like an high quality aircraft from Flight Simualtor, Must go
36 Semsem: Wan't it also Nouvelair who had an ATR crah into the sea because they had no fuel?
38 Geo772: After the refuelling incident in Denver a few years ago where a refueller lost his life taking precautions like this when fuel could get near a hot e
39 LY777: thanks for sharing. By the way, 2 incidents in one month in the same place:that's a lot.I'll try to avoid Nouvelair
40 LHR777: It looks like fuel venting from an overflow valve to me. We see it on our 747's from time to time. Happens when the outer wing tanks are overfilled, o
41 Silver1SWA: I assume this comes from the fact you saw "jaggies" in the photos as your browser probably automatically resized them? Click on the images above to o
43 B747SP: Good job, Alejandro. Thanks for sharing!
44 Myt332: Sweet photos. Right place, right time. You should sell them to the media claiming an A320 nearly blew up at GVA. You could make a mint.
45 LHR777: Yes, and definitely include words like "exploded", "crashed", "lethal" and "lawsuit"....
46 Starlionblue: Nope, not optional. Simply not available. Even widebodies can land at maximum weight, even though it is safer to dump. The reason widebodies have fue
48 Hamster: 2 questions How will the airline and the authorities deal with this situation moving foward ie leaking plane, messed up engine and floam all over the
49 CPHGuard: As i stated in a previous post, the engine is most likely NOT messed up. The foam on the tarmac is simply removed with water. The firetrucks can spra
50 AnMCOSon: Great pictures Alphafloor. EXACTLY!!! A family member of mine, (who's a maintenance controller for the A-319/20/21's for an airline), said it's a resu
51 Pilotaydin: Those of you who think the emergency services over reacted...wow...we need to sit down and have a talk about air safety... you can sit there and look
52 Jetset7E7: Great pictures! Right place, right time! Mark
53 Alessandro: BA777 and Alphafloor, have you sent in the pics to a.net? Never seen anything like this before, amazing....
54 Alphafloor: I've uploaded one, see if it is accepted...
55 320tech: The fuel is leaking from either the NACA vent or the frangible disc. The NACA vent vents the overflow tank, and the frangible disc is designed to brea
56 RootsAir: today alejandro's pictures were all over the local newspapers !! congrats
57 BA777: Yeah congratulations Alej! I've uploaded 3 of my shots to A.net for now (time constraints really getting in the way) http://img484.imageshack.us/img48
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