leandrorar

News in spanish:

http://www.infobae.com/notas/723123-...en-Bogota.html

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1607189-a...-de-emergencia

Flight Radar https://twitter.com/flightradar24/st...697600/photo/1

JDiver

AA 908 operated by 777-200ER N786AN with 256 passengers was just north of Bogotá when it was forced to turn south and land at a CATAM military airbase near Bogotá due to a fire alarm activation, activated presumably by a fire indication in one of the baggage bays. No injuries, the aircraft suffered no damage, and the flight is presumably being reprogrammed for departure from BOG to MIA; passengers were transferred to BOG El Dorado International, and put up in a nearby hotel. Some are awaiting further accommodation, others took it upon themselves to secure flights to go onward to their final destination (e.g. LAX).

(Summary, not translation, from both news sources.)

neilk

I was just about to ask if AA had gotten some 787s early....

j/k

ESpen36

It has now been posted to AVHerald:
http://avherald.com/h?article=46654dce&opt=0

leandrorar

Should change thread title to "...due to false fire alarm".

It took 28 minutes to land.

Would the aircraft have resisted so long if the fire was real?

JDiver

We can hope the 777 could, given the potential for a similar situation transat or transpac. They do have fire suppression systems in place, but I can see why the Captain chose to land and preemptively address the situation. If it weren't a false alarm... then again, it's the 777 entire systems that are rated for ETOPS 330 "out of the box".

It also appears from the later article that the a/c landed BOG, and a 767 has been detailed to retrieve the passengers. "What? You want me to be downgraded from F? What kind of compensation will you give me?"

Thanks; thread retitled.

ty97

I am hoping there is an error in the map in post #2 where it shows AA 2428 (an LAX-DFW flight) hanging out over Colombia. That would be a really indirect routing.

JDiver

They were give an extended pattern hold from ATC...

needmoremiles

I was told at the airport by AA personnel that it was a "false alarm" but they also said that the fire supression system had been "activated". So it was activated without a fire? A bit inconsistent for my taste.

Pilot took the bird down pretty quick and if there had been something life threatening, I think he made the right call to ground the plane immediately. It took about 20 minutes from the time he announced it to having the plane safely on the ground. I am not sure why they kept us on the plane over an hour after landing. It started to get hot after about 45 minutes but I think people were so scared that there were not many complaints.

Just glad my daughter and I are safe in MIA.

dmsdfw

I believe it is standard pratice to release one of the two fire suppression canisters in the event of a fire alarm since there's no way of knowing if there is a genuine fire or not and it's better to be safe than sorry. I hope there were no animals in the hold.

HNL

Indeed that is the most important thing. What happened after you were finally allowed to deplane? Was AA prepared to handle the accommodation process of the stranded passengers? Was there good levels of communications?

hillrider

Yes, and that you made it home safe without being one of the average 89 people/day dying in automobile accidents.

No need to take extra risks if you've had a fire incident and the fire was suppressed (that's the info the pilots had). Landing at the nearest "real" airport with a stabilized approach is the safest thing to do. Had there been an unsuppressed fire, then you'd have landed at the nearest strip after an ear-popping rapid descent.

The only way they knew about whether the fire was real or not was when after landing "Attending emergency services found no trace of fire, heat or smoke."

hillrider

AA908/2AUG, operated by N786AN, arrived BOG at 0409 on the 3rd.

AA flew a 763, N370AA, from MIA as AA9605 to pick passengers up. They left at 1327 as AA908/2AUG and arrived with a 572 minute delay.

N786AN eventually took off BOG at 06:56 on the 4th (26+ hours later) for MIA as AA9689.

needmoremiles

First and foremost, let me state for the record that I am not complaining. This is more constructive critisism tan anything else.

They put everyone in hotels shortly after we landed but it was early in the morning and they did not have many people at the airport. The communication was poor to fair at best. We were flying Business Class and there was no diferentiation between those in Premium Clases and those flying Coach. We were one of the first to arrive to the hotel (only because they gave priority to people flying with children) and checked in quickly but others stood in line for over an hour. No one called or emailed us to let us know what to expect. We finally got a call at 10:30AM telling us we needed to check out by 11:30 and head to the airport. When we checked out at 11:30 almost on the dime, we were told we were the last passenger at the hotel. We got to the airport just on time to check in. I understand this was an unexpected event and am am happy the pilot made the call to land the plane immediately but communication could have been better after we finally landed in Bogota. Today 20,000 miles were deposited into each of our accounts.

zpaul

This thread really caught my interest because I am booked on this same flight, and for the first time in my life in paid int'l F (yes, I know it's the 772, but that's why I could afford it!). If this were to happen to me, after being grateful that I'm on the ground, making sure that everything is well, and being thankful that I'll be getting where I need to go - eventually - I would ask what kind of compensation was being offered if none were offered proactively. I don't see what's wrong with that!

Now, being bumped from J to Y when the F pax get bumped to J...that would be worse.

needmoremiles, I'm glad things ended well for you and that you and your daughter are safe!