Description

On 1 March 2005, a Boeing 777-200 being operated by Pakistan International Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Lahore to Manchester experienced a landing gear fire during taxi in at destination after an apparently routine landing in normal day visibility. There were no flight deck indications of a significant fire but an emergency evacuation was recommended by attending Fire Crew and carried out. Thirty one of the 344 occupants sustained minor injuries during this evacuation and the rest were uninjured. Five firefighters also sustained minor injuries as they assisted passengers from the slides. Damage to the aircraft was minor.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. The landing was confirmed to have been normal.

It was established that the first awareness of a fire was a report to ATC GND from another aircraft in respect of the left main gear. The flight crew had no indications of a fire and were unaware of any problem as well as not realising that the transmission of the other aircraft was about them. The ATC GND controller observed yellow and white flames coming from the left main gear and initiated procedures for an Aircraft Ground Incident (AGI). The RFFS arrived and whilst they attempted to extinguish the flames, copious quantities of what the RFFS Watch Commander assessed as ‘smoke’ were produced and because he considered that the fire was getting out of control, he advised the aircraft commander to evacuate the aircraft. This was ordered and the right hand exits used. As the evacuation had been the subject of a number of video recordings, it was decided to investigate it in more detail.