A Canadair CRJ-700 was operating a scheduled flight from Aspen (Colorado, USA) to Denver (Colorado, USA). with a crew of four and 59 passengers. the aircraft was approaching runway 34R at Denver after an uneventful flight. The aircraft was configured for landing according to the airline's operating procedures.
The Airport Fire Brigade on-site (Source; airlive.net © Rabia Chaudry) A normal touchdown followed and the aircraft decelerated to taxi speed and was vacating the runway when flames became visible on the left engine (General Electric CF34). The crew had received an L ENG SRG OPEN caution followed shortly afterwards by an L ENG FIRE warning when stowing the reversers. {L ENG SRG OPEN caution indicates that the operability bleed valve has failed in the open position. this valve provides compressor airflow control by extracting bleed air to offload the engine compressor during engine starts and high aerodynamic loads. It is controlled by the FADEC and uses pressurized fuel as a hydraulic medium}
Flames are visible in the engine inlet and under the engine (Source: AIrlive.net ©Raiyansyed)
The aircraft was brought to a stop and the crew discharged both fire extinguishers bottles, however, the fire was not extinguished. Flames were visible in the left engine inlet, the left engine aft pylon and on the ground below the left nacelle. An emergency evacuation was initiated on the taxiway (Taxiway F), all passengers and crew evacuated, and no injuries were sustained by any of the occupants. The Airport Fire Brigade responded and quickly extinguished the fire, they could not prevent the aircraft from sustaining substantial damage because of the fire.
CVR playback with a visual representation of events.
(source Youtube ©VASAviation).
The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. they identified the following probable cause in the course of their investigation;
"The pressurised fuel supply tube fitting being pulled out of the left engine’s operability bleed valve (OBV) during the landing rollout, allowing fuel to leak and contact hot engine cases, which ignited a fire that caused thermal damage to the engine pylon. Contributing to the fitting pullout from the OBV was an undetected progressive environmental control system (ECS) support link wear condition that allowed excessive OBV movement relative to the engine, the lack of alignment instructions in the base engine assembly drawing and the lack of maintenance tasks to assess the operational condition of the ECS link."
FIre fighting taking place during th evacuation (Source; youtube © @VASAviation)
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