Description

On 30 March 2017, a Boeing 747-8F (LX-VCF) being operated by Cargolux on a scheduled cargo flight from Houston to Luxembourg via Prestwick as CV7754 was found to be leaking significant quantities of aviation fuel from the lower fuselage as soon as it reached its allocated parking position at Prestwick in normal daylight visibility. The source of the fuel was found to be a helicopter on board as part of the main deck cargo. The Airport RFFS were called and contained the fuel spill and managed the associated risk of fire and explosion.

Investigation

A Field Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. The 52 year-old Captain of the flight was noted to have accumulated 12,900 hours of which 9,200 hours were on type. It was found that the first hint that anything was amiss was a smell of fuel detected by the flight crew as they shut down the engines.