TERRIFYING Engine Fire | American Airlines Flight 1400
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มี.ค. 2023
- In this Air Accident Investigation, we discuss the harrowing experience of American Airlines flight 1400, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82) that experienced an in-flight left engine fire during its departure climb from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on 28 September 2007. As the flight crew attempted to return to the airport, they encountered yet another issue when the nose landing gear failed to extend, they also were having issues with electrics and hydraulics. The crew executed a go-around and successfully deployed the gear using the emergency procedure before conducting an emergency landing on the runway.
We examine the events leading up to this terrifying incident, the emergency procedures followed by the flight crew, and the factors that contributed to the damage sustained by the aircraft during the fire. Join us as we delve into the details of this dramatic aviation event.
Final Report: www.ntsb.gov/investigations/a...
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I hope you enjoy the video! Thank you for all your kind and interesting comments so far!
A couple of points - Yes it's clear I do not have a future in voice acting, apologies for the terrible accents but the voices are direct quotes from the ATC transcript and hopefully provide some insight into what the crew were thinking. In the future I may get people with the relevant accents to record those parts but at the moment I am currently doing everything with the video on my own, perhaps as the channel grows I can get a team of people. It would help with the frequency of uploads.
And the acronym at the start is supposed to say NTSB (Thanks @zynera )
Great breakdown, and as an American I did find the accents entertaining.
❤❤❤❤😂😂😂o
I'd suggest just using your own voice for the radio communications. Change the tone and cadence so we know you are reading a transcript, maybe different ways to indicate ATC vs pilots, but the attempt at voice acting really does not help.
It was great
@@mattwilliams3456 I thought it was rather sexy
Excellent video. As a 27 year aviation maintenance mechanic with an A&P I can tell you this is what happens when people take shortcuts, ie using improper tools for the job at hand!
Yep, like using a forklift to during engine changes which damaged the engine pylon and caused the DC10 accident out of Chicago in the 70s.
Same airline.
Calls to mind American Airlines 96, when the cargo door blew out in flight.
I will grant you this: It was not a good door design. However, on this particular flight, the baggage handler noted in the investigation report that the locking handle for the door was very difficult to close. "I had to put my knee on it to get it to close."
As a general rule when dealing with mechanical devices like that, if you have to force it, something is not right.
(I'm only talking about AA96. Turkish Airlines 981 probably still would've happened regardless; it was _not_ a good door design)
@@PhycoKrusk
PS What made the 981 disaster more inevitable is that the door was not forced closed, thus giving no indication of an abnormal situation. Almost certainly, we have the TK mechanics' tampering with the door's mechanisms and warning system a just few weeks before to thank for that.
I am a retired airline mechanic and remember back in the day on the 727 , we would usually use a screw driver to manually open the start valve through a small hole in the engine cowl. Some cowling had a small access panel where a glove was needed to hold the lever down or some start valves had a button type as the hot bleed air coming off the duct was almost unbearable with a glove on. After you hear it light off, I would count to ten and release the lever then go back and give the Captain a thumbs up.
Yeah, I remember that one.
The engineer who came up with the phrase "Suck-Squeeze-Bang-Blow" 😂 legend
😂
That one is easy to remember, for sure.
Happens In your car every 2 ↕️ rotations of your crank shaft.⬇️ Intake, ⬆️ compression, ⬇️ ignition (power stroke) ⬆️ exhaust
Certainly raises an eyebrow. 😅
Sound like to me that a content creator someone is also a fan of Donut Media.
Thanks for an excellent video from a former airline pilot and flight instructor.
We're all human and make mistakes, and videos like this help reinforce safety as priority one.
Appreciate that Marc, thank you.
You speak clearly and explain everything well. I appreciate that there is no loud annoying background music!
Thank you
A tiny thing causes a huge problem! I’ve been on a flight that had to turn around after a large boom was heard. No passenger was informed of what happened, just ‘we’re having technical issues & must go back.’ I really like knowing what possibly could’ve been the problem thru channels like this. Thanks!
You've gotten a sub from me for 2 reasons: 1. Good information presented clearly. 2. No music whatsoever. I can't believe how many other channel hosts use music over the narration. It is extremely annoying and distracting and useless. Unless I am watching a music video or dance video, we really don't need any music. Not for emotion. Not to set the stage. Nothing.
Ohhh your one sub will make huge difference
Sub? = Suppository? 🤔
That's odd.
I couldn't agree more. No music needed or wanted. That rates a sub from me as well.
Definitely agree with your statement about the music music in any video in the background is extremely irritating
So happy YT suggested your channel. I have long binged through the entire content of the well known and excellent civil aviation accident channels, so I'm very pleased to be able to add another one!
I'm glad TH-cam is recommending me to the right people! Thanks.
P. Jay What other channels do you recommend? Mentour Pilot is my top choice.
You might like to try Green Dot. Aviation.
Very clear explanations, understated like this channel.
And all with an Irish lilt.
Nice to find a channel of mostly successful landing & little or no fatalities…. Thanks 😊
Really like your videos. Not making big deals of the incidents and just presenting and explaining the facts with nice graphics. Much appreciated! Subscribed.
Thanks 😊
Great content bud. I know nothing on how to fly but love flight channels. You’re doing a great job especially with so many other large creators out there. Every video I have watched has had added facts or detail in a clear and concise way. Great job
Much appreciated, thank you.
Another great great video- thanks for sharing and explaining things in simple terms for those of us who don’t know.
Glad you enjoyed it
Good summary overall. I’m a longtime airline pilot with well more than 10,000 hours in the DC-9/MD-80 and appreciate you covering this. Although I gave you a thumbs up, as a matter of constructive critique, the ATC and cockpit comms are unrealistic and are pretty terrible; they really detract from the quality of the video.
Bro those are transcripts lol
That was literally scary! I was almost certain they weren’t going to make it back to the runway 😮
Very professional job on the part of the crew and the off-duty pilot.
Not at all. The rule, in general and during emergencies for that matter, is 1) aviate, 2) navigate, and only then 3)!communicate. The PF deciding to chat with everybody and their grandmother instead of letting the PM carry out the emergency checklist was probably as criminal as the scandalous shortcuts taken by the maintenance personnel -and the accident report did highlight this sad truth.
I really can't tell which I find more tragic: incidents involving highly experienced pilots like this one, or rookies. Certainly weird they would fixate on the door (while I guess it wasn't a big issue) out of all things, though. Even more perplexing was their decision to go around in the crippled state of their aircraft. I'm obviously not a pilot, but I'd wanna get back on the ground ASAP given the amount and severity of issues!
well, crooked door could lead to passengers seeing them struggling, which would certainly create a big panic on aircraft, and that is the last thing any pilot would want even in a situation like that.
The thing with the door is you don't want the passengers to see and hear everything going on, the off duty pilot lied to them at the end but only so they would not panic so that is the same as the door being closed.
what i don't get is how and why it actually opened as a result of the power going out..???
Surely a case of, "what else can go wrong? Nevermind, I don't want to explore those possibilities right now".
Damned fine job though, excellent resource management, in a situation where resources were rapidly dwindling!
Lucky they landed safely...good flight crew!
Loving how you put these videos out, thank you.
Thank you, not as often as I would like but the best I can at the moment.
@@CuriousPilot90 Job comes first but thank you for what you do. Remember, back for up further back for down.🤣👍
Also! Really interesting that the fan jet engine produces more thrust from the large fan at the front! Like a propeller. Crazy.
This really surprised me too!
See my comment up top... Only at low altitudes is this true. At higher altitudes the core produces a large majority of the thrust due to air density.
Depends on the bypass ratio and the airspeed. On these engines not so much as newer higher bypass fans.
Exactly ! Like a big hi - Bypass turbine fan engine Pretty much Big N1 fan in the front of engine .
I love ur narration.. there is clarity plus the dynamic use of high quality animation..
Great video, thanks!!
I finally have time to come back and watch your videos!! So happy!
Welcome back!
Loved your video! Your style of more details in the film itself is wonderful. Keep it up!
Thank you for the kind comment.
I like your work at where you are going with this. Great editing and decent narration. Although give the ATC Comms and inflight P.A.s a miss, it doesn’t work and cheapens your production sounding more like poor comedy. Your work is better than that.
One thing you could do is explain a little technical information, like how does an ILS work, functions of and how an autopilot works, various modes, major differences with Airbus automation, and how wildly different Airbus cockpits are as a complete system, dangers with side sticks vs Boeing yokes which features duplicated flight control inputs are on both controls therefore more obviously alerted to incorrect inputs being made vs Airbus clandestinely to the side out of view. Just some ideas.
Your work is excellent. I’ve 'liked' and subscribed, I’m going to watch a few more now and 'like' them also.
Keep up the excellent work. Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers, Anton
Very well done video subscribed keep up the good work😊
The MD 80 has visual indicators for nose and main gear position. The nose gear visual pin is located on the center pedestal. The main gear use a periscope for visual indication.
Great explanation of how turbine engines work. Really appreciate your work.
Very good format.
Awesome video. Keep making 'em
Thanks James!
You’d think after flight 191 in 1979, that American Airlines would have learned its lesson about unapproved maintenance techniques and procedures.
Amazing video! You are the best aviation channel on TH-cam.
Those air traffic voices were great, made me laugh but really good to hear what everyone was saying at the time.
Thanks a lot!
The ATC voices were a reenactment.
@@sludge8506 correct… he did say that.
I actually like channels like yours. Keep up the work
also a recommendation: Next time say that in the simulation its an MD-80!
I love the old MD alerts, the bell then the voice its so unique to MD planes. The stall one is my favorite.
very good, I enjoyed the immersive voice acting, made it exciting
Great video. Nice to see an incident I was unfamiliar with. Those accents, though😄
Ahaha, I tried to warn you about them with the message at the start! Glad you enjoyed it. :)
Wonderful video! I liked the graphics and the technical explanations as well as the very authentic ATC conversations and the pilot PA's 😀 there were just enough "ah"s and "uh"s in there to convince me that it was an actual pilot PA 🤣
The ATC was very hard to understand for me, so it was good that you put the text on the screen.
Also, since I'm European, I appreciate you putting the °C numbers on the video when you were saying only °F.
The flight crew did such a great job! As did you with this video 👏👍👍
Thank you. I only used °F first as I try to keep as close to the final report as possible. °C would be how I understand it too.
Definitely not real pilot/ATC communications.
Excellent and concise explanation of relative roles of combustion and bypass in turbofan engines.
Was that Foghorn Leghorn doing the voiceover for the MD-82?
Ah say ah say ah say boy.
Yeah, considering this was an American plane and an American airport, all the voices had a British accent. Hmm.
nice technical report, completely bypasses any human factor which would make the story relatable. good if you're an aircraft technician working on very old and obsolete aircraft which tend to break a lot.
The voices were great! I thought, that can’t be real people.. then saw the description 😂 got my sub
Thank you great breakdown. Nice job by the pilots. It of curiosity when pilots do training and refreshers do they use these past incidents as scenarios?
I can't answer for the commercial guys but in the sim we sometimes run previous incidents as it leads to interesting results and discussions afterwards.
The company develops training scenarios based on trends at the company and in the industry. Sometimes the scenarios are almost identical to the initial event, sometimes they’re modified based on specific company procedures. After the ValuJet accident, for instance, cargo fires became a staple of simulator training.
I don’t have the SOP or checklists in front of me, but uh… when that engine fire bell rings, you pull the damn lever and discharge the fire bottle(s) - pretty sure that’s standard. To wait for multiple repeating indications defeats the entire point of the sensors, systems, training, etc.
Well done crew !!
These vids are great! Are you Tim Henman?
Thanks Wendy, Tim Henman the tennis player? 😂
@@CuriousPilot90 Wow thanks for replying so fast! Yes, the very same! I hope you don't take it the wrong way! He is a hero of mine
The engine on this aircraft is actually a LOW bypass engine (JT8D)
It's pronounced (saint loo is). Pretty sure most people haven't said that, but they were thinking it.
I would be absolutely terrified and panicking. Good on the crew for staying relatively calm and getting back.
But how much did the pax know, or could they sense any instability?
I know, I know, it's a DC-9-82 technically, but it sounds weird to hear it called a DC-9. American had several hundred MD-81/82/83, being the largest operator of MD-80s overall and having the type as the backbone of their fleet for many years, yet for most of that time they didn't even like to call them MD-80s, referring to them as "Super 80s" on everything from booking materials to the safety cards onboard to the title under the cockpit windows. So it feels particularly odd to hear it called by its "full" name when it's in that (glorious) livery. Loved the video though, and kind of cool to be able to click the like and push it from 999 to 1k.
Indeed the plane was originally marketed as the DC-9 Super 80 if memory is accurate, which at my age may be open to question.
Nice job by the crew!
They bent the pin in the carburettor! What a gormless thing to do for a Mechanic!
Beautiful accents of the plane's crew.
@Curious Pilot i think the acronym at the start is supposed to be NTSB instead of NSTB. idk if its worth reuploading but throwing it out there
Oh no. You are right, thank you for letting me know! I could maybe put a caption up on the video. Not worth re uploading it. Thanks @zynera
There's a very good reason that a particular tool is used for a particular job. A make do decision nearly cost all of those lives.
amen .landed safely
Your comment about what provides the thrust is half correct, and maybe you left it simplified on purpose....at low altitudes the fan provides the majority of the thrust. At high cruising altitudes, it is the turbine exhaust providing the large majority of thrust.
You are correct, at low altitudes , the fan section produces around 75% of thrust and the core at 25%.
My mother,grandpa, grandmother was supposed to be on this flight but we changed it narrowly
I had to turn on cc to see what you were saying when you said St. Louis! 😂😂 You britts crack me up how you say some words. The brittish pilot and ATC was hilarious. Obviously that wasn't real conversation and seemed kinda cheesy.
These guys did a stellar job, they didn’t panic and land it without the nose gear down they not only saved the passengers but they didn’t tear up a multi million dollar aircraft either! As far as the cause of the fire well shit happens. Let’s face it you don’t always have the correct tool on hand and you have to do what you can to get/keep stuff running. This is the real world not some fantasy land where everything is textbook perfect!
Did the pilots each receive the distinguished flying cross? They sure as heck earned it. With a lesser air crew this may well have resulted in a total hull loss leading to injuries and deaths of many if not all people on board. Great to see an accident video with a happy outcome!
They don’t pay those guys enough. Just watching this kicked my anxiety in.
Amazing video I wonder how the pilots knew that they had a passenger who also was a pilot
He'd have made himself known either in the crew room before boarding or when he boarded.
former airline pilot here....we receive a passenger manifest, company employees are listed
Probably courtesy to let crew know.
One thing I find terrible in all these stories that seems to happen way too often is that a flight crew is in control of a high-tech vehicle and in a life or death situation. And some people in an office have something to say critical of all the things they could or, in fact, should have done. In many of these, the crew did a great job and put the aircraft on the ground. Often with no loss of life. These people should get what is coming to them , congregations, and a huge thank you by everyone, including the armchair quarterbacks that had so critical to say. I wonder just how many passengers actually understand the dangers they really faced. Or did the airlines downplay it, not telling the truth.
The report is from NTSB : National Transport Safety Board not NSTB. Or am i missing something here?
Although the incident aircraft model is a derivation of the Douglas DC-9, in fact carrying the official/unofficial designation of 'DC-9-82', it is generally referred to as the McDonnell Douglas MD-82. Just FYI.😉
My dad was A&P for Airwork for 30 years, dad would say use the right tool or dont toutch it
Little known fact, air traffic controllers in St Louis have british accents
Maintenance-induced issues always give me the willies. So avoidable.
Always used to tell my guys, if you follow the book, you will never get in trouble.
If you follow the book and something happens, I'm the one who will get in trouble (since I wrote most of them lol).
Wow. A true story of a disabled airplane and the great job the crew did to save everyone and the comments are critical of pronunciations and accents! For shame for nitpicking.
as a professional angler, i can absolutely guarantee that every pilot, mech, etc who comments here will be bragging that they're mech's, pilots, how many hrs they have, planes theyve worked on etc🙄🙄
As a professional voice actor, I concur with this comment.
I’m a pilot…👀
I'm wondering if the ride felt unstable to the pax. Or were they oblivious throughout.
The Pilots anouncement to the passengers. "If you've got em, Smoke em".
I'm glad you don't do the radio reading anymore. No offense. I do love the vids, though.
Ahaha, none taken! I trialled it for this video, didn’t get a fantastic response. Lesson learned. 😁
You couldn’t ask for a better flight crew.
im not a pilot just watch these videos and when the fire started the whole time i was like why are they not shutting the engine down and pulling ffire handles that said amazing job
What do you use for the simulation?
Kinda looks like MSFS2020.
I use a mix depending on the aircraft models. For this one it is MSFS 2020.
So, on this aircraft you have to shut off fuel then pull the fire handle? If I'm remembering correctly on more modern aircraft pulling the fire handles shuts the fuel flow valve too.
Pretty sure the MD plane in this incident was older. It's likely that the fuel flow valves weren't a thing when they were manufactured.
@@xxibjrosek The MD -80 is not THAT old.
On many of Boeing and MD aircraft,, if not all, the fuel shut off is wired into the fire handles. Pull the fire handle is faster than using the fuel shut off/ start lever . When you get an engine fire warning,, throw that damn book away and pull the fire handle!
Coming from a retired airline mechanic.
The fire handles and the fuel valves are actually internally connected. One lever will move the other. I’m not really sure what that was about in this video. Maybe it seemed jammed, and that’s where the jam seemed to be?
Losing most electrics & all hydraulics would be a death sentence you'd think. They were lined up for landing just in time!
This plane is flown manually by cables and pulleys. Hydraulics are not required for the basic flight controls. Electricity would lower the workload but also not needed.
Makes me laugh that the bean counters are now actively trying to get rid of the copilot from the cockpit just to save a bit more money and make even more profit!!!
Single crewing is going to lead to more accidents when captains get overwhelmed during an emergency.
I wonder what happens if the runway has a plane ready for takeoff and a plane needs to make an immediate emergency landing.
I'm surprised they didn't have hydraulic leak "fuses" to isolate leaking sections of the hydraulics.
Don’t worry about the cockpit door - Just a ghost from the last crew this aircraft nearly killed !
Apparently the nose landing gear was successfully dropped into a down and locked condition by gravity means, although not actually stated by the narrator.
I’m just curious why there can’t be a camera on the landing gears inner compartments showing exactly if the gear really is down or not? That will be so useful and why not have a third engine below the tail like the older 3 engine airplanes where the middle 3rd engine does not run until there is an emergency like this. If a plane can fly with one engine, then in that case there will be a full working engine ready in case any or both engines go out? I know it’s extra weight but that kind of safety is more important then the extra weight the plane can load instead of the 3rd engine. Sorry not a pilot but just a curious plane and flight enthusiast. Thanks
Weight and drag. Engines are reliable enough that it’s not necessary. Dual engine failures are exceedingly rare.
Most aircraft, including this one have some way to confirm the position of the gear. Might have just been easier to ask the tower.
10:11 This guy is good at maths!
I think they did awfully well, phrase from an old engineer mate
It was a MD-80.
The MD80 is a sub variant of the DC9. It’s basically a stretched DC9.
Yea, ur supposed to pull the extinguishers immediately as soon as the fire alarm goes off...
You'll lose the engine but its better to be safe than sorry...
Does anyone know how old the plane was when this happened?
19.
Very frustrating that SO MANY major plane crashes involve hydraulic lines or electrical wires damaged due to mechanical damage from some other component, or from fire. Certainly all those wires could be run through fire resistant metal conduits of some sort. Yes, that would be a weight penalty. So run three less passenger seats. 600 pounds would get you a heck of a lot of 1.5 inch metal conduit.
I have this gut feeling that there is just too much sloppiness by hydraulic system mechanics, no doubt due to supervisors screaming at them to work faster. Crap runs downhill, so until the CEO and all the Directors and Vice Presidents can man up and tell EVERYBODY to slow down, pay attention to detail, double check every important step, and be SURE the job is done right, all of this will keep happening.
I think nearly all mechanics WANT to do things right, they are just pushed too hard.
The CEO should be forced to ride on one of these jetliners once every month, after a rushed hydraulic maintenance or repair task is performed. Getting some of these CEO's to have a pants dirtying experience might change things.
I like the real videos of planes malfunctions, his does not cut it. no continuity in the story and what you show.. no people all cgi with maybe a few "borrowed" scenes. these videos are mostly sterile of any reality, no people, no crew no captain showing him work the controls. not to be an ass but for most people I am sure your videos are great, so I am not criticizing you! I know making videos can be exhausting work so to the quality of your work is excellent.
138 passengers and only 3 waitresses? Budget.
One flight attendant for 50 seats. Standard in the US.
@ 02:42 The way jet engine works, I'll never forget, Suck sqeeeze bang and blow.. Lol 😅
Education has taken place 😂
Please... Don't imitate the crew or ground control. Sounds terrible... Reduces qaulity of what ur doing.
How did it go that smooth with no hydraulics
This plane doesn’t really rely on hydraulics, with a few exceptions.
I never worked an MD/DC-9
Interested to know, does it not have a RAT?
No. Not really needed.
13:20 was this pulled from the CVR transcript? Because as far as I'm aware, the DC-9 didn't have the capability to dump fuel, so that seems like an odd discussion to have.
It was. If you have a spare moment, the final report with attached transcript is linked in the description.
@@CuriousPilot90 Thanks, I'll check it out for sure. Appreciate the response. Cheers!
@@bjn714 It's probably not a DC-9 but an MD-80 series.
@@gort8203 MD-80 series didn't have the ability to dump fuel, either. And I downloaded the full report to read the transcript and it was a DC-9-82 (so an MD-82 before they actually called it an MD-82, so you're essentially correct there), and the flight crew oddly did make a brief reference to dumping fuel, but it seemed more like a "since we can't dump fuel" type of discussion from context, rather than a discussion of actually _planning_ to dump fuel. It was only one brief mention, so it wasn't really an active discussion about dumping fuel.
@@bjn714 Yeah, that makes more sense. One wonders why even mention it in passing. I suspect the F/O may have still been or was recently flying in the AF Reserve or ANG, and the airplane he flew there was capable of dumping fuel. Since you practice emergency procedures much more often in the military than in airline flying this habitual consideration for an emergency return came to him briefly out of habit,
Shout out to these pilots! Were MD80 engines controlled by FADECs? I assume it was more conventional, but there would still have to be some computer involvement i would think.
The aircraft involved was an older DC-9 and not an MD-80
@@wayback75 ok DC-9 then. My question remains the same
@christerry1773 The MD-80s , and the DC-9 are two different animals,,
most MD-80s are equipped with FADECs , however the old DC-9 engines are not computer controlled.
Pure mechanical. The engine on the MD-80 is also a PW JT8D but of a completely different design with a lot of computer controls incorporated in to it.
@christerry1773 let me clarify,, the MD-80 is a DC-9 but of a different variant.
@@wayback75 ahh. I didn’t realize fadec has been around for that long.
They should have never left.
I am truly amazed at this whole thing. It sucks that the aircraft suffered very expensive damages due to maintenance neglect, but the way the crew, especially the pilot was incredibly amazing. The pilot knew his aircraft was in a dire condition, and problems kept escalating. However, he stayed calm and spoke in a clear, concise manner to ATC. No hydraulics, half ass working engines, and no power, all of their emergency training and briefing led up to that very moment. Amazing work!
And how about that DC-9/MD90? I know aircraft today, in order to be ETOPS certified, has to be able to land on brakes alone with no thrust reversers. I think that aircraft is far far from being ETOPS certified.
Had I been the pilot, once the fire indicator for the left engine went on, I’d probably go on the PA system and just scream until we touch down. Touch down violently that is.
OMG, those horrible accents of crew and ATC😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The ATC voices were a reenactment.
Should finish off the vids with what happened to these airplanes mechanics/engineers