Looks like everyone evacuated safely. Plane catches fire on runway at Fort Lauderdale airport - CNN.com
Possible cause.... "The plane that burst into flames minutes before take-off in Fort Lauderdale last week had been in storage for more than two years, it has been revealed. Twenty two of the 101 passengers were injured when the Venezuela-bound Boeing 767 exploded on the Florida runway on Thursday, ejecting a cloud of thick black smoke. It has now emerged the aircraft spent the last 29 months out of service - until it was leased by Dynamic Airways in September. It had flown just 240 hours before the explosion. The staggering news comes as an investigation reveals the main fuel line of the plane was disconnected, possibly prompting the engine to leak fuel which caught fire.
I had never even heard of this airline before this incident. That alone would have told me "stay away".
She had a large fuel leak before she even started taxiing and left a trail of fuel behind her. Another pilot called it in to the tower and if you can see a leak from another airplane, it is pretty substantial. This is the one where they deployed the chute on the side of the burning engine, too. Not too bright. Believe they said there was a fuel line that had come disconnected.
Reports are that the fuel line was disconnected. Those fuel lines are at least 3 inches in dia. I don't remember exactly but even the old JT 4 had huge plumbing. How does a fuel line remain disconnected after the airplane was okay'd for flight?
Bob- The old disconnect four lines for a purge, reconnect three and go to lunch trick. Happened to the landing gear on the DC-XA. The fourth line never got reconnected.
