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The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released the report on the serious incident involving an Airbus A330-223 aircraft operated by Delta Air Lines attributing the casual factor to an over-temperature condition and localized fire within the No. 1 engine cowling triggered a fire warning.
This is just as the Bureau says it has issued 178 Safety Recommendations from a total of 46 Final Reports since inception.
Commissioner of the AIB, Akin Olateru released reports of six accidents including that of Delta Air Lines N858NW which occurred after take-off from Runway 18R, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on 13th February 2018 with 234 persons on board comprising two captains and two first officers; nine cabin crew members and 221 passengers including two infants.
He read out the report stating that the over-temperature and fire were caused by the ignition of fuel from a hairline crack on the fuel manifold supplying fuel nozzle 1.
Olaeteru went further to quote the report stating that the major contributory factor was the cracking of the fuel manifold which could be attributed to high vibratory stresses due to coupling of an acoustic combustor mode and a fuel manifold structural mode.
According to the report, the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) reported observing a fire in engine No.1 and attempted to extinguish it. ATC confirmed there was fire at the tail end of the engine No.1 exhaust pipe; the Captain then ordered an evacuation.
The passengers were evacuated using the emergency slides on the Right-Hand side of the aircraft. One passenger was seriously injured, and 11 passengers sustained minor injuries during the evacuation.
Olateru who earlier gave a general overview of the accident investigations the AIB released, ran through some statistics establishing that the release of the final reports for the six accidents generated a total of 24 Safety Recommendations.
The AIB Commissioner also revealed that of 46 Final Reports released, the AIB has issued 178 Safety Recommendations since inception.
According to the statistics, the current leadership has been able to release a total of 27 Final Reports since January 2017, which makes up 58.7% of AIB’s total of 46 Final Reports released since inception (2007).
