2
Air space thirty eight thousand feet
Above the North Atlantic Ocean
Lat = 38 degrees, 24.5 minutes North
Long = 59 degrees, 18.9 minutes West
Friday 4th August 1989 (The following day)
Twenty three forty-nine hour’s Local time.
The Boeing 747-244B flight number BA-323 is a combi- variant, of the aircraft that permits the mixing of passengers and airfreight on the main deck, the aircraft was carrying, six pallets of cargo along with the passenger’s baggage, that had been loaded on to the aircraft at Heathrow.
Class B cargo compartment regulations mean; there is sufficient access in flight to enable a crewmember to effectively reach any part of the compartment with the contents of a hand fire extinguisher.
When the access provisions are being used, no hazardous quantity of smoke, flames, or extinguishing agent, will enter any compartment occupied by the crew or passengers.
There is also a separate approved smoke detector or fire detector system to give warning to the pilot or flight engineer station.
The aircraft had a crew of nineteen along with one hundred and forty passengers and was now, five hours and ten minutes out from Heathrow airport, with a flight time of six hours twelve minutes.
Destination Washington Dulles International Airport USA.
The smoke alarm broke the calmness of the cockpit.
The captain looked at the instrumentation, noticing that it was indicating smoke alarms from the cargo area, on the main deck had been activated.
He jumped into full alert mode and cancelled the fire alarm.
The co-pilot flicked a switch that operated the phone in the gallery area of the aircraft; a steward picked the phone up.
The co-pilot said, “We have a fire alarm signalling smoke in the cargo area, take a look?”
The steward replied, “I am on it.”
Captain Roger Preston contacted Dulles airport, “Dulles; this is British Airways three two three.”
The air traffic control at Dulles replied, “Three two three, good evening go ahead.”
The Captain replied, “Good evening, we have, a smoke problem and we’re doing an emergency descent to level, one five zero, over.”
“Confirm you wish to commence a descent to flight level one five zero?”
“That is correct Dulles.”
“Roger, you are clear to descend immediately to flight level one five zero.”
“Roger, we will appreciate it if you can alert the fire services, over.”
The air traffic controller replied, “Do you, eh, request a full emergency?”
The Captain replied, “that’s affirmative, Dulles.”
“Roger three two three, I will declare a full emergency.”
Back in the cargo hold, area the steward had picked up a fire extinguisher, from the wall located by the cargo door.
As he entered the room, it was already filling with smoke and he could see flames emitting from behind some of the pallets.
The Steward operated the fire extinguisher, directing it at the flames, he emptied the fire extinguisher, however the flames continued to burn, he went back out and grabbed another one; repeating the process.
By this time, the flames were filling the rear area and were reaching the ceiling.
The steward retreated from the cargo room closing the door behind him.
Some of the smoke had entered the passenger cabin area and some passengers were beginning to show signs of stress, which began to infect the other passengers.
The steward phoned through to the cockpit, the interphone chimed and the co-pilot answered.
“What’s the situation back there?”
The steward replied, “I have emptied two extinguishers on it, but its continuing to burn.”
The co-pilot thought for a moment and replied, “Try again with some more fire extinguishers.”
The steward replied, “Okay, I’ll see what I can do; the passengers are beginning to see some smoke, from the rear of the plane.”
“I’ll make an announcement and try and reassure them.”
The steward replaced the phone, picked another extinguisher up, and headed for the cargo hold.
The co-pilot spoke into the Comms, “This is your co-pilot, we have a smoke problem in the cargo area, please follow the cabin attendants to the front of the plane.”
The co-pilot relayed the information to the Pilot, who said, “read of the checklist.”
Just at that moment, there were two pops from the breaker panel, followed by some of the electrical systems in the plane that began short-circuiting.
The co-pilot began reading the checklist, “Duct insulation ventilation switches... open. Top valve switches... all open. Recirculating fan switches... on.”
The checklist also advised the captain to begin an emergency descent, but this was not possible; as the plane was still too far out from Dulles airport.
The captain checked the altimeter that showed they were at 25,000 feet.
He took control of the aircraft and began a very deep descent to 15,000 feet.
Captain Preston contacted Dulles air traffic control, “Dulles this is BA three, two, three, over.”
“Go ahead BA three, two, three.”
“We have a fire in the cargo hold Dulles; attempts to extinguish it have proved negative so far.”
“Request your actual position please and your DME distance?”
The captain replied, “We haven’t got the DME yet.”
“Roger and your actual position please.”
DME stands for Distance Measuring Equipment, which allowed the plane to calculate how far it was from the airport.
“Captain Preston replied, “We have now lost a lot of electrics, we haven’t got anything on the aircraft now.”
“BA three, two, three, do you have an Echo Tango Alfa to Dulles please?
“ETA Forty-five minutes, Dulles.”
The captain turned to the co-pilot and said, “Go to the back, take the fire extinguisher and give it to the steward and come back here!”
Without question, the co-pilot popped the cockpit Halon 1211 extinguisher and bolted out the door.
Because of the steepness of the planes angle, he found it difficult to walk, feeling like a walk up a steep hill.
When he eventually reached the cargo area, he handed the extinguisher over to the steward and walked downhill back to the cabin.
Inside the cargo area, the conditions were very hot and harsh as the steward approached the fire; he began to douse the flames.
The hydrochloric acid was strangling him, the heat was burning him, and the one of the pallets was catapulting molten pieces of iron at him.
He quickly abandoned the dousing and he exited the cabin area, coughing and sputtering.
Smoke and acid had scorched his lungs, and he was now in no condition to do anything.
After a demanding seven minutes and twelve seconds, the smoke had filled the aircraft, many passengers were falling unconscious as soot and acid began building in their tracheae.
The captain was left with one last item on his checklist.
Approaching the breathable altitude of 14,000 feet, the checklist suggested a very dangerous procedure that few pilots have ever performed
The captain said, “We need to open the door!”
At 14,000 feet, the difference in pressure on the outside and inside was enough to force the air out quickly, but not dangerously.
The air outside would be chilly, but breathable.
The captain looked down at his speed; it showed three hundred and twenty knots.
To open the door the airspeed needed to be below two hundred knots; even then, this would be the equivalent of an F4 devastating tornado.
The captain had a choice of which was the lesser of the two evils; the tornado was the lesser of the two.
He immediately pulled back on the thrust, to lessen the aircrafts speed.
As the airspeed reached two hundred knots, he ordered his co-pilot to leave the cockpit and open the door, on the upper deck.
Captain Preston spoke into the interphone to the passengers, “this is the captain speaking, we are going to open an entry door to clear smoke from the cabin. Do not panic; you will be much more comfortable once we complete this procedure.”
Captain Preston immediately strapped on his pilot’s oxygen mask.
Upon reaching the door on the right side, the co-pilot turned the red handle to unlock the door, and pushed it open as slightly as possible.
Immediately, there was a loud bang, and it seemed like all the wind in the world was blasting throughout the aircraft. Everybody’s ears popped, and the blinding smoke flushed out.
The passengers still alive took their first breath of fresh air in what seemed like forever.
Many of them were now coughing out the soot, immediately feeling more revitalised.
They felt like they had the strength to survive, but they were still quite depleted of energy.
The co-pilot rushed back to the cockpit, with the fresh icy air rushing in behind him.
However back in the cargo hold, the rush of fresh oxygen was feeding the fire.
The captain spoke into his Comms, “Dulles this is three, two, three, do you copy?”
The Air traffic controller replied, “Affirmative, three, two, three.”
“Dulles I estimate we are one hundred miles out, request clearance and weather, over.”
“Roger three, two, three, I have you on radar and your cleared to level five zero, repeat five zero. The wind is two-one-zero degrees zero-five knots. The visibility above two-zero miles, with cloud base at one thousand feet, runway thirty, that’s three zero, is cleared for you, over.”
The captain acknowledged the information and said he would radio again when they got to five thousand feet.
Despite smoke building in the cabin again, it was actually breathable and would be until landing.
The plane had endured a massive heated torment; the fire was unable to breach through the fuselage of the plane because, the cool outside air chilled the heated aluminium so much that it could not rip.
The surviving passenger had inflamed throats and sore eyes.
As the fire raged the fumes of hydrochloric acid were eating away at the skin, as a result a hole was created by this process and reached a critical point.
The tail, without the support of enough aluminium, was too heavy to keep attached to the plane; suddenly cracks emitted around the tail and converged on the hole and the tail ripped apart.
Without the stability of the tail, the rest of the plane shook itself apart, the nose, with most of the people in it, plunged like a bullet.
A minute later, the three main pieces of BA-323 plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean; the force of the impact ensured no one survived.
At Dulles airport, the air traffic controller had observed the disappearance on his radar of the BA-323.
“Three, two, three, Dulles.”
There was no reply.
The air traffic controller repeated the transmission,
“Three, two, three, Dulles”
The airwaves remained silent.