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LBFD Airport Units Extinguish Small Plane Fire
By frhayes | January 7, 2009
Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) Crash units were dispatched to a plane fire on January 6, 2009 at 1335hrs. The incident was just off of runway 25L next to the Aeroplex building at 3333 E Spring Ave. A Cessna 152 (two seater) with one soul on board was taking off on runway 25L.
The pilot experienced some unknown difficulty midway down the runway shortly after clearing the ground. The plane took an immediate hard left. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether this was due to equipment malfunction or pilot error. The pilot touched back down at full speed (approx 50-60 mph) and was heading straight towards the Aeroplex building.
The airplane clipped the tail end of a parked DEA helicopter and then into the concrete posts that were designed to protect the large OS&Y shutoffs for the building. If the plan had not hit the posts it would have crashed into the building.
The plane caught fire shortly after impact. The pilot was able to self extricate. LBFD units were on scene in less than one minute from time of dispatch and extinguished the fire with the bumper turret on Crash-5. LBFD units then followed up with a hand line from Crash 1. Rescue 17 and Engine 19 were called out to treat the patient. He was transported by BLS-16 to LBMMC.
After the fire was knocked down a discovery was made that fuel was leaking out of one of the wing tanks. The fuel did not enter any storm drains. Ocean Blue was called for clean up. The incident was secured at 1830 hrs.
A Unified Command Post was established. The following entities were on this incident:
LB Fire Department, LB Police Department, LB Airport Security, LB Airport Management, LB Health Edison, Long Beach Water Department, FAA, NTSB (notified but did not respond), Temco International (owner of plane), DEA (damage to their parked helicopter), Boeing (Incident next to one of their buildings), Ocean Blue.
Topics: Incidents | 23 Comments »