Extended Footage: British Airways Engine Fire at McCarran Airport (September 2015)

As an airline mechanic it really saddens me to see so many people come off that plane with their carry-on bags, never stopping to think that could have cost someone their life. Don't be stupid people, listen to your flight crew and follow their instructions to the letter. And if you're told to evacuate get your ass off off the plane and don't worry about your laptop. That's replaceable, a human life isn't. And kudos to the fire brigade for such a quick response!

I love how the ATC lady probably notices the fire already around 0:50 while giving landing clearance to Spirit Wings 356. At 0:57 she announced "Skywest 4770 hold position", I think because she knew big trouble was happening and at that time (already) sent the trucks 5 seconds before Speedbird's first attempt at 1:02 to declare mayday (which was stepped on by ATC who then immediately continued and sent Delta 2235 around, because Speedbird 2276 was (on fire) on the parallel runway). When delta (finally) finished readback she already started to tell BA (1:17) that fire trucks were on the way, before they were able to (finally) make the mayday call. That's real headroom! That lady is killing it. In any matter amazing professionalism by all parties involved.

You just know at least one person stood in the aisle and started rummaging for their duty free.

Awesome, awesome footage showing what I think could be called a textbook response from the crews at McCarran. To those who are trying to make sense out of the response- a couple of key points about the objective of the large airport fire trucks. 1) Find a hole in the fire. Holes are where people are going to come out and you will be able to identify rescue pathways from where the fire isn't. 2) Maintain the rescue path. Notice where that first truck stages and starts working. The operator was positioned in a way where he could actually hit and contain the fire head on while eliminating the hazard to those evacuating out the front and rear exit doors on both sides of the aircraft. This was great positioning on his part. 3) Backup trucks will generally have to either proceed with direct fire attack (not necessary in this case since the first truck in nailed it) or as in this case simply work to contain the hazard with blanketing foam to suppress flammable vapours. 4) Once the aircraft is clear of personnel the effort can shift towards protecting the asset. This is an ongoing process from the beginning of an incident since protecting the asset helps to prevent fire intrusion into the passenger spaces- but once the accountability is confirmed then trucks are a able to call out their status (what we've done, what we see, what we've got left in terms of agents) and maneuver as necessary or go recharge. This is practically straight out of the manual- and these firefighters just plagiarized it. Beautiful job in my opinion!

Extremely professional ATC, Pilots, Cabin Crew and fire services! And as a British person I am very proud of BA for their professionalism! ATC ordered fire services and told other aircraft to go around before BAW even declared mayday! The pilots brought the plane to a stop and started evacuation immediately Cabin crew evacuating a large multi aisle airliner Fire services arrived in 2 minutes and put the fire out really quickly And of course other pilots having to go around

I can't imagine how stressful that would be to wait for your turn down the slide. Those are some brave crew members making sure everyone is off. Impressed at the speed of the people coming down the slide.

Super proud of the people evacuating using the rear slide - they're streaming out of the plane at an ungodly rate and then absolutely sprinted away from the plane.

Assuming the YT time stamps/ATC match up, "Fire trucks are on the way" @ 1:25, foam applied @ 3:25. Now bearing in mind the firefighters had zero warning in advance of this and were likely sitting NOT in their crash trucks a fair distance away - that is an absolutely incredible response time. Well played to all involved (including the crew who decided early to get everyone off). A lot of people owe a few people a beer methinks.

For those rolling their luggage should also receive a ticket. 🤬🤬🤬

The British Airways pilot Chris Henkey was one week away from retirement, heck of away to go out,, both himself and the copilot were senior British Airways crew

And as of Thursday 14th September 2023 this plane G-VIIO is operating a flight from London Gatwick to Tampa Florida so still life in the old girl yet.

14 of 170 injured and no deaths. It's good to hear that after such a fire. The quick evacuation helped a lot. It could've been worse.

Regarding the captain not performing an engine shutdown after pulling the fire bottles (last sentence in the second to last paragraph in the video extended description): Part of the automated sequence of the fire suppression system is fuel cutoff to the engine. If he pulled the fire handle, the Eng#1 fuel pumps were immediately cut off prior to the fire bottles discharging inside the engine.

Surprisingly, the plane was considered repairable, was made air worthy, and was placed back in service.

I'm no expert, but this is the best video I have seen of a real time aircraft incident. The ATC lady should take full credit and awards for her calm and multi-tasking of the initial response and not belittling the pilot who suggested closing the adjacent runway which she had already done plus the orders to go around for other aircraft. These pilots acknowledged without hesitation or explanation. The fire crew were brilliant with their response, not only concentrating on the engine fire but also giving water and foam cover to the escape routes. The passengers seemed to evacuate in an orderly fashion with the crew last to leave at the front of the aircraft. But :::!! why were so many passengers carrying or wheeling their carry-on baggage away from the aircraft?? If that had been a cabin intrusion fire, how many passengers might have died whilst someone was getting their baggage from the overhead lockers??

This was a super speedy evacuation despite what people say. The fire service must be hailed during this incident. Super fast response time and getting the fire put out quick. Passengers also did a good job, no really big pile ups at the bottom of the slides. Textbook from all those involved, from the pilots to the ATC.

watching this and the similar American Airlines incident a year later is like a reminder that the 1985 british airtours fire wasn't in vain. the resulting changes have made a difference.

Boy, it sure went off big time. Congrats to the aircrew for getting all off alive and the ground fire crew for a great job in keeping it from blowing up.

2:49 complete face-plant

Let’s review some details and give all our respect to the cabin crew. In their most stressful moment, they could judge that doors. 2 left, over wings and 4 left were not available or unsafe…….this made this emergency evacuation safer. The cabin crew on this doors, had to wait and block those exit to stop passenger from exit by them. Very, very good professionals.