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The most surprising thing to me was that while watching the plane driving along, turning, coming to a stop, there was not a single fire engine there. Why is

The most surprising thing to me was that while watching the plane driving along, turning, coming to a stop, there was not a single fire engine there. Why is nobody talking about that? Every time I saw some kind messed up landing, I saw fire engines rushing towards and/or behind the plane even before it lands.

deleted 8y ago
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tialaramex 8y ago
That is interesting. Yes, even for something with a single pilot and no apparent fire they would usually have airport fire crews chase the emergency plane at an airport which has such things. Unless the pilots explicitly say they need something else e.g. "we have a woman with a heart attack we need paramedics to meet us". You'll hear on radio recordings the fire crew being told which plane is "theirs" and authorised to enter the runway which is otherwise off limits to ground vehicles. Something like "Emergency plane is number one for two six left. Fire Two you are Cleared to follow them onto two six left".
dmitriid 8y ago
Because the pilots never indicated there was an emergency warranting a fire crew.
- Krasnol 8y ago
  Alright I can accept that. However, the moment this plane hit the ground and started burning somebody at the tower should have seen it. I mean...probably many people saw it. What about them?
  - dmitriid 8y ago
    Fire trucks cannot instantly teleport to the place were the plane has stopped and is burning ;)
    - Krasnol 8y ago
      I'm aware of that but we have quite a large overview over the airport while the plane was moving. As I said, in other situations the fire trucks have been visible. Here they aren't for quite a long time which I think is weird. Especially because the landing was botched already and it was a emergency landing.
      - dmitriid 8y ago
        In other situations dispatchers knew that this was an emergency landing, so the trucks were already dispatched to the correct runway. In this case nothing the pilots said or did indicated the need for fire trucks. When the plane hit the tarmac and ignited, - this had to be communicated to the fire crew, with oroper coordinates - traffic in the airfield had to be stopped and rerouted - the crew had to get to the trucks, start them and get out onto the field - they had to drive all the way from wherever they are stationed to wherever the plane stopped IIRC they reached the plane in under two minutes which is a pretty good time from a cold start.
  - Piskvorrr 8y ago
    Airports are large. As in "huge". This is not obvious from airplane traffic, as airplanes are also fast, so they cover the distances at a proportionate speed. Check out any emergency landing videos where firefighters are visible: the trucks seem tiny and slow, even at top speed (which could be ~200 kph). Speculation from reports: firefighters were a) expecting them at a different rwy, b) chasing the plane as it touched down, but no video long enough to actually see them arrive.
    - Krasnol 8y ago
      Alright, let's not overdo this. I live in Frankfurt and I know what a big airport is. I also know that fire trucks are not THAT small...This was an emergency landing. The trucks should have been all over this plane the moment it touched down. Just as you can see it on many videos of even less dangerous situations. However there is not a single fire truck to see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvcoAPLeuA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvcoAPLeuA nowhere. Even when people were already away from it. Also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_tMKmUjbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_tMKmUjbg you see people starting to get out of the plane. Nothing. There is some kind of vehicle coming over at the end but it's not a fire truck. In this video (around 2Mins) https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=k5Lw7_1557086404 https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=k5Lw7_1557086404 you see finally water from obviously a single fire truck being sprayed on the plane but there must have passed a very long time since the vehicle from the other video is standing on the right site and people are gathered around it. So please. Don't tell me there isn't a massive fuckup here.
      - Piskvorrr 8y ago
        That is one thing I did not say - just that I have not seen any footage longer than ~1 min. I surely would have expected more than a single fire truck responding after a longer period.
      - RandomBacon 8y ago
        The fire trucks do not know where the plane will stop on the runway. A plane coming in to land will be going well over 100 mph. The fire trucks cannot be on the runway ahead of the plane (lest they be taken out by the plane and make the crash worse with the side benefit of now having more victims and less first responders). It is physically impossible for the firetrucks to be at the plane the moment it stops.

deleted 8y ago

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tialaramex 8y ago

That is interesting. Yes, even for something with a single pilot and no apparent fire they would usually have airport fire crews chase the emergency plane at an airport which has such things. Unless the pilots explicitly say they need something else e.g. "we have a woman with a heart attack we need paramedics to meet us". You'll hear on radio recordings the fire crew being told which plane is "theirs" and authorised to enter the runway which is otherwise off limits to ground vehicles. Something like "Emergency plane is number one for two six left. Fire Two you are Cleared to follow them onto two six left".

dmitriid 8y ago

Because the pilots never indicated there was an emergency warranting a fire crew.

Krasnol 8y ago
Alright I can accept that. However, the moment this plane hit the ground and started burning somebody at the tower should have seen it. I mean...probably many people saw it. What about them?
- dmitriid 8y ago
  Fire trucks cannot instantly teleport to the place were the plane has stopped and is burning ;)
  - Krasnol 8y ago
    I'm aware of that but we have quite a large overview over the airport while the plane was moving. As I said, in other situations the fire trucks have been visible. Here they aren't for quite a long time which I think is weird. Especially because the landing was botched already and it was a emergency landing.
    - dmitriid 8y ago
      In other situations dispatchers knew that this was an emergency landing, so the trucks were already dispatched to the correct runway. In this case nothing the pilots said or did indicated the need for fire trucks. When the plane hit the tarmac and ignited, - this had to be communicated to the fire crew, with oroper coordinates - traffic in the airfield had to be stopped and rerouted - the crew had to get to the trucks, start them and get out onto the field - they had to drive all the way from wherever they are stationed to wherever the plane stopped IIRC they reached the plane in under two minutes which is a pretty good time from a cold start.
- Piskvorrr 8y ago
  Airports are large. As in "huge". This is not obvious from airplane traffic, as airplanes are also fast, so they cover the distances at a proportionate speed. Check out any emergency landing videos where firefighters are visible: the trucks seem tiny and slow, even at top speed (which could be ~200 kph). Speculation from reports: firefighters were a) expecting them at a different rwy, b) chasing the plane as it touched down, but no video long enough to actually see them arrive.
  - Krasnol 8y ago
    Alright, let's not overdo this. I live in Frankfurt and I know what a big airport is. I also know that fire trucks are not THAT small...This was an emergency landing. The trucks should have been all over this plane the moment it touched down. Just as you can see it on many videos of even less dangerous situations. However there is not a single fire truck to see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvcoAPLeuA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvcoAPLeuA nowhere. Even when people were already away from it. Also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_tMKmUjbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_tMKmUjbg you see people starting to get out of the plane. Nothing. There is some kind of vehicle coming over at the end but it's not a fire truck. In this video (around 2Mins) https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=k5Lw7_1557086404 https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=k5Lw7_1557086404 you see finally water from obviously a single fire truck being sprayed on the plane but there must have passed a very long time since the vehicle from the other video is standing on the right site and people are gathered around it. So please. Don't tell me there isn't a massive fuckup here.
    - Piskvorrr 8y ago
      That is one thing I did not say - just that I have not seen any footage longer than ~1 min. I surely would have expected more than a single fire truck responding after a longer period.
    - RandomBacon 8y ago
      The fire trucks do not know where the plane will stop on the runway. A plane coming in to land will be going well over 100 mph. The fire trucks cannot be on the runway ahead of the plane (lest they be taken out by the plane and make the crash worse with the side benefit of now having more victims and less first responders). It is physically impossible for the firetrucks to be at the plane the moment it stops.