Emirates Boeing 777 aircraft, flying from India, crash-landed in Dubai (UAE) as it was
attempting to fly a go-around, bursting into flames minutes later.
While the 300 people onboard the wide-body evacuated alive, a firefighter was killed
when tackling the fire.
Immediately after the accident, which happened in 2016, a landing gear failure was suspected
to be at fault.
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And in today's video, we are going to talk about “Boeing 777 Crashed In Dubai!”
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However, the accident report points to the pilot's mistake and the fact that the engine
thrust was insufficient for a second go-around flight.
The approach and landing were normal from the air traffic control (ATC) point of view,
with no emergency declared according to ATC recordings at the time.
The crew reported that they were going around, after which the tower instructed them to climb
to 4,000 feet, which was acknowledged by the crew.
Shortly after, the tower instructed the next flight to go around and alerted emergency
services.
Wind shear and an ambient temperature of 48 °C (118 °F) were reported.
The United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority, which is probing the incident,
said the work was underway to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, also
known as “black boxes”, that will be analyzed at its facility in Abu Dhabi.
The airline’s chairman and CEO, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said in a recorded message
that “all passengers and crew are accounted for and safe.”
“We do not have all the details yet,” he said.
“Thankfully, there were no fatalities.
Our first priority is the care and well-being of our passengers and our crew, and to answer
queries from their families and friends."
"We saw big flames, then the body hit the runway and the right landing gear collapsed,
followed by the right engine coming off.
Then it skidded for a while until it stopped," the pilot said.
The aircraft first impacted with the underside of its rear fuselage and skidded about 800
metres (2,600 ft) long on runway 12L with its landing gear partly retracted as it turned
to the right about 120 degrees.
As the aircraft skidded down the runway, the engine detached and slid along the wing's
leading edge toward the wingtip.
Firefighting appliances were at the aircraft less than 90 seconds after it came to rest
and started to fight fires at several locations as all 300 passengers and crew were safely
evacuated.
Videos from inside the aircraft, taken on passengers' cellphone cameras, showed the
passengers failing to evacuate, instead of giving priority to carry-on luggage, resulting
in an overly long evacuation and heavy criticism.
Nine minutes after the aircraft came to a stop, with only the aircraft captain and the
senior flight attendant still on board (checking for any remaining passengers), there was an
explosion as flames reached the aircraft's centre fuel tank.
Dubai International Airport gradually started to resume operations at approximately 1830
local time.
There were a total of 74 foreigners on board including 24 from the UK, 11 from the UAE
and six each from the US and Saudi Arabia.
There was no official word for the cause of the accident, but media reports said the landing
gear collapsed and the plane slid and exploded.
Flight tracking websites identified the aircraft as a Boeing 777-31H delivered to Emirates
in March 2003.
Flight records indicated the plane flew a number of routes, including flights between
Dubai and Tunis and between Tunis and Luqa (Malta) on August 2, and between Dubai and
Abuja and back on August 1.
A pilot who witnessed the incident told NDTV that he saw the plane coming in fast and hitting
the runway tail first.
According to air traffic control recordings cited by Aviation Herald, an independent website
specialising in information on air accidents, controllers in Dubai had reminded the crew
to lower the landing gear as it approached the runway but the crew announced they were
aborting the landing to "go around".
"Emirates can confirm that an incident happened at Dubai International Airport on 3rd August
2016 at about 12.45 pm local time," the airline said.
"We can confirm flight EK521 from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai has been involved in an accident
at Dubai International.
There were 282 passengers and 18 crew on board.
Our main priority now is the safety and well-being of all involved.
We are extending full co-operation to authorities and emergency services managing the situation.
We will update the Emirates website & social media channels as more information becomes
available," a statement issued by the airline added.
The Boeing 777 is the world's largest twinjet and has a seating capacity of 314 to 451 passengers.
It has a range of 9,695 to 17,594 km and is known for its fuel efficiency.
A single engine of the Boeing 777 puts out over 110,000 horsepower or more than twice
the design output of all the steam engines of the 50,000-tonne Titanic.
In June, flames engulfed the wing of a Singapore Air Boeing 777-300ER as passengers waited
inside.
Emirates flies several Boeing 777 flights to India, as these planes carry more passengers.
Many of the passengers to Dubai, Emirates’s hub, end their journey there, but most use
it as a transit hub.
Chennai-based aviation safety analyst Mohan Ranganathan said it appears the pilots did
not take the weather report seriously and initiated a go-around without the landing
gear (wheels), and the resultant ‘sinking’ crashed the aircraft to the ground.
Sheikh Ahmed said the authorities are still investigating the incident, in which 14 other
people were admitted to hospitals with mainly minor or moderate injuries.
He said the crash-landing was not caused by any security breach.
He said the plane, which had entered service in 2003, had undergone maintenance in 2015
and that the United Arab Emirates pilot had over 7,000 hours of flying experience.
"Passengers were met by Emirates staff and provided with all possible assistance.
Of the 282 passengers on the flight EK521, 157 disembarked in Dubai and left the airport
yesterday afternoon.
107 passengers opted to continue on their journeys and remained airside where they were
provided with refreshments, rest areas, and other necessities, while Emirates rebooks
them on the next possible flights," Emirates official statement claimed.
The final report was released on February 6, 2020.
The report noted in the causes section that the flight crew did not effectively scan and
monitor the primary flight instrumentation parameters during the landing and the attempted
go-around.
The flight crew were unaware that the autothrottle (A/T) had not responded to move the engine
thrust levers to the TO/GA position after the Commander pushed the TO/GA to switch at
the initiation of the FCOM ̶ Go-around and Missed Approach Procedure.
Due to this incident, Dubai International Airport was closed for about six hours on
3rd August and a number of flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted.
Emirates cancelled 27 flights, and there were delays and rescheduled flights across the
network.
23 flights were diverted to alternative airports - Sharjah, Al Maktoum International (DWC),
Fujairah, Al Ain, Muscat and Bahrain.
In total, over 23,000 Emirates passengers were impacted by the disruption.
Passengers holding tickets purchased on or before Aug 3 can rebook or cancel their bookings
at no charge, the company assured.
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