UK air disaster
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from August 1985.
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A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the investigation of the American-made Pratt and Whitney jt8d-15 engine had been completed and the results were expected to be studied next week, the BBC reported.
British accident investigators planned to remove the left engine of the burned-out Boeing 737 for laboratory tests to establish the cause of the fire.
Airport officials said the jt8d-15 engine exploded as the plane was taking off from Manchester airport in northern England on Thursday on a British airtours holiday flight to Greece with 131 passengers and a crew of six.
The BBC said the FAA ordered the checks because of seven incidents in which there was a serious failure of the Pratt and Whitney engine. Pratt and Whitney was quoted as saying there had been problems with a turbine disc near the back of the engine.
On Thursday, escaping fuel ignited, creating a huge fireball which engulfed the rear of the plane and burst into the cabin. Panicking passengers trampled over each other to escape the raging flames and poisonous black smoke from burning upholstery. Manchester, England - A 20-year-old woman who climbed over seats to escape from a burning jet said Friday that more people could have survived if passengers hadn't panicked.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Anna Findlay said passengers weren't told what to do and had to open the emergency exits themselves to escape from the British airtours Boeing 737 which had been turned into an inferno after an engine exploded during takeoff.
"If we hadn't panicked, more people would have got out," said Miss Findlay, one of the 83 survivors of the accident which killed 54 people, most trapped in the rear of the plane.
She was one of three survivors at Manchester's Wythenshawe hospital who described their desperate attempt to get out of the smoke-filled aircraft. All three, from northern England, were reported to be "comfortable and improving" by a hospital spokesman.
"I was completely stunned," Miss Findlay said. "We saw the flames outside and we didn't realise how quickly it was going to spread. Time just stood still and we watched it and didn't know what to do. "No one moved initially. When they moved, most of the people fell down and people got trampled on. By the time I decided I was going to move, people were crushed and lying down in the aisles. I went over the seats and just fought my way out.
"I could hardly breathe because of the smoke. There was a piece of rope outside the door and I just grabbed it and people behind me pushed me out onto the wings. I thought I was going to die. The plane disaster in Manchester England confirms 1985 as the worst year ever in civil aviation history around the world. Before Thursday's disaster, there had already been 15 accidents with more than 1,400 people killed, the International Civil Aviation organisation in Montreal reported.
The United Nations-affiliated agency said that until now, 1974, with 1,299 deaths, ranked as the worst year for scheduled, commercial airline services.
Thursday's disaster is the third involving a Boeing aircraft in the last two months. But Boeing 737s, which have been in service since 1967, have a good safety record. Over 1,000 are now in service, used by 133 airlines worldwide. They are extensively used by Pan Am, British Airways, Air France and many charter companies.
Boeing spokesman Dick Schlen said of the twin-jet plane's safety record: "It's ... one of the best in the industry."
AIB spokesman David Deas described the cause of Thursday's disaster as "uncontained engine failure." But he added that only detailed investigation will establish exactly what happened.
He said the intense heat of the fire melted the aluminum frame of the plane but would not comment further.
Farnborough in southern England is the home of the Royal aircraft establishment, Britain's main test centre. "It's just a feeling of helplessness," said a controller from Irving, who had given the pilot clearance to-land, then futilely commanded, "go around." "You're standing there looking at an aeroplane explode and you know that people are dying. You don't have any idea how many," he said. "There's not a ... thing you can do for them. Zero."
Thirty people survived the crash of the jumbo jet.
