UPS Airlines Flight 1307

UPS Airlines Flight 1307 was a scheduled cargo flight from Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport near Atlanta, Georgia to Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the night of 7-8 February 2006, the Douglas DC-8 operating the flight experienced a cargo fire while descending towards Philadelphia; the fire destroyed the aircraft after landing, but only minor injuries, and no fatalities, occurred to the three crew on board.

Accident

The flight proceeded normally until the descent towards Philadelphia. At 23:34 Eastern Standard Time, as the flight descended through flight level 310 southwest of Washington, D.C., the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded comments by the flight crew about an odor similar to burning wood. The captain briefly considered diverting the flight, but, as there was no evidence of a problem beyond the unusual odor, the flight crew decided to continue to their destination. Over the next several minutes, the flight crew attempted to troubleshoot the source of the odor, without success. At 23:54:42, with the aircraft on approach into Philadelphia and descending through an altitude of 3,600 feet above mean sea level (AMSL), the crew received a warning of smoke in the main cargo compartment. The flight was cleared for a visual approach and landing to runway 27R, the captain notified the Philadelphia local controller, who activated the airport's ARFF units to respond to a possible aircraft fire, and the flight crew donned their oxygen masks. Soon afterwards, at 23:55:57, the flight engineer reported a warning of a fire in one of the aircraft's aft lower cargo compartments, which was rapidly followed by the failure of the captain's EFIS.

As the aircraft touched down on runway 27R at approximately 23:59, visible smoke began to enter the cockpit and rapidly thickened; by the time the flight crew finished shutting down the aircraft and evacuated on the runway, the smoke inside the cockpit was already so thick that the first officer could not see his hand in front of him while evacuating. At this time, both the flight crew and the responding ARFF personnel reported that there was smoke but no visible fire; the first observation of flames occurred at about 00:40, when firefighters opened the aircraft's right forward overwing hatch and saw fire between the tops of the cargo containers and the fuselage ceiling. ARFF personnel attempted to open the aircraft's main cargo door to allow them to remove cargo containers and attack the fire more directly, but had not been trained in the proper method of operating the door, and accidentally rendered the door inoperative when they attempted to force it open. Despite the firefighters' efforts, the crown of the fuselage burned through at about 02:00; the fire was eventually extinguished through internal and external attack with water and firefighting foam around 04:07.'

The plane's three crew members were taken to the University of Pennsylvania hospital, where they were treated for smoke inhalation. They were released at 4:00. The airport was shut down for firefighting operations until 6:00.