Source: Tom Mack | www.leicestermercury.co.uk

The pilots of a cargo plane about to take off at East Midlands Airport had to evacuate the jet after it filled with hot smoke. The pilot and co-pilot – who were the only two people onboard – had at first disregarded a fire alarm that went off but after it sounded the second time they radioed the airport’s ground crew who confirmed that smoke was coming out of the rear of the Boeing 747.

According to a report by the government’s Air Accidents Investigations Branch, “The co-pilot walked to the forward galley and found that the smoke was thickening rapidly and was getting hotter, with the source of the smoke beneath the cargo deck floor.”

Both pilots managed to get to safety and the fault was traced to a duct with a broken clamp leaking very hot air into the plane. The incident has led to the freight company – which was not named in the report – replacing the faulty clamp on all 747-300 and 747-400 cargo aircraft. The incident happened at 12.15am on February 3 at the Leicestershire airport as the plane was about to take off on a scheduled freight trip to Edinburgh. The co-pilot was about to request permission to be reversed out from the terminal in preparation for take-off when a fire warning bell sounded but they saw no fire warning lights and cancelled the bell. But 10 seconds later the bell sounded again.

The report stated: “The commander asked the ground crew whether they could see any smoke or fire coming from the aircraft.”

“The ground crew reported that smoke was emanating from the rear of the aircraft.

“Whilst this message was being received, the crew observed and smelt smoke entering the cockpit, despite the cockpit door being closed.”

After finding the smoke in the galley, the airport fire engines were called out and the co-pilot opened the cockpit door and shouted to the ground crew to bring the boarding stairs up to the aircraft so they could get out.