Well this doesn't look good. Apparently an Etihad A380 refueling truck caught fire in Abu Dhabi, and it looks like it was awfully close to the plane at the time of the incident. Via @LebanesePlaneS on Twitter: No injuries were reported, and let's hope the A380 wasn't damaged either! It looks like the A380 flights…
Continue reading: Uh Oh: Etihad A380 Refueling Truck Fire In Abu Dhabi
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Phew! Looks like this is the SYD plane - if its on time means that there is no plane damage!
With ME3 it doesn't mean anything. Qatar plane struck runway lights in MIA and continued to DOH -- all my pilot friends tell me that is insane.
A "bowser?" Some parts of the English speaking world come up with the funniest sounding words. From context, presuming "bowser" = "truck," but man, what a crazy word!
If this were Qatar, their CEO would claim that it's a Hunger Games themed partnership.
Ben, this is actually happened a fewdays ago I am surprised it's just breaking now. We were delayed 3 hours out of AUH on flight 103 AUH-JFK on Tuesday Feb 16th while they inspected the plane. They never officially announced anything about a fire but this rumor started to spread that night. For a while it didn't look good but we made the most of it in the pre clearance lounge the same way you would have ....no Krug though.
@Penguin - It is common for many airline incidents to go unnoticed or be delayed in the media due to government censorship, especially in some countries.
Glad no one was hurt - not sure if the airline has actually been examined. Hope that this is not another incident related to improper grounding of fuel lines.
Andrew: Bowser is standard English. Bowser: "a pump usually at a service station for dispensing liquid fuels, especially gasoline." Named after Sylvanus Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvanus_Bowser
I guess that whole spiel about keeping your seatbelt unfastened during fueling is more important than I thought! When we flew The Apartments last week, they must have made that announcement 10 times during boarding...
@Gene – I also noticed that they also paused boarding during refueling. I was fortunately in The Apartments, but I could see the that Y passengers were held back on the jetbridge (many sat on the floor there) rather than at the gate during refueling. Doesn't sound like the safest place during an incident. I guess ME3 doesn't treat Y very well.
That is definitely why we keep reinforcing that seatbelts must be UNfastened during refueling, aisles must be clear of obstruction (your luggage) and people must be seated. In case something goes wrong during refueling, we can't afford losing time. Every second is precious.
Ill be on this plane in 10 days in the apartment. Glad no one was hurt but also glad it looks like they wont be subbing in a 777 sans apartment.