Original upload date: Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:32:58 GMT
Real cockpit voice recordings from the accident. The flight was reconstructed from the actual flight data recorder data.
On July 16th 2004 a Blue Panorama B767-300ER departed Rome Fiumicino to Havana.
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287 passengers on board, 63 tons of fuel, max take-off weight at 186 tons. 4 kts before V1 the right engine exploded. The F/O was flying. The Captain elected to continue the take-off and, after completing the emergency actions, the fire was still uncontained. There was no possibility to dump fuel, of course, so the Captain took the controls and landed the aircraft 42 tons over the max landing weight. They took off from runway 16R but the Captain decided to land on 34L because the fire was in the right engine and the wind from the west would have kept it away from the cabin. The final speed was 179Kts, flaps 20. After the aircraft stopped, of course, most of the tires deflated. The 287 pax were evacuated with no injuries and the airplane suffered no damages, apart from the right engine. The enquiry established that the blast and fire occurred because of a leaking high-pressure fuel hose. Apparently, over 700 kgs of fuel had leaked into the nacelle during taxi. It ignited during take-off. The crew were officially commended for their airmanship and professionalism in saving the lives of everybody on board.
