Date:	Wednesday 7 June 1989
Time:	12:29
Type:	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Owner/operator:	British Airways
Registration:	G-BHDI
MSN:	47831/327
Year of manufacture:	1980
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 182
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	London Gatwick Airport (LGW/EGKK) -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	London Gatwick Airport (LGW/EGKK)
Destination airport:	Houston International Airport, Houston, Texas (IAH/KIAH)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Douglas DC-10-30 G-BHDI: Damaged in a take off incident at London Gatwick Airport, Horley, Surrey.

On the afternoon of 7 June 1989 British Airways Douglas DC-10 G-BHDI was about to take off from Gatwick Airport, on a flight to Houston (flight BA225), when the co-pilot and flight engineer noted the Nº 3 engine was overheating. This was followed, in quick succession, by the illumination of the 'engine failure' and 'fire warning' lights and the fire alarm sounding. The pilot's reaction to this was to call 'stop & reverse'. Gatwick ATC were notified, which put the airport emergency services on standby. When the DC-10 was almost at a halt, the fire drills were undertaken on the Nº 3 engine and the DC-10 turned off the runway and stopped. The engines were shut down and, because the brakes were still smoking, the pilot requested a tow back to the stand.

Before the tow could be arranged, the hitherto smoking centre and starboard undercarriage burst into flames. The starboard undercarriage fire was quickly extinguished but, because there was a perceived risk of fire to the centre and port undercarriage, the fire officer recommended that the passengers be evacuated but on the starboard side only. The emergency slides on this side were inflated and deployed. However the stewardess at exit 3 right saw fire outside that exit and so, with the stewardess at exit 3 left, decided to use that exit.

The AAIB report indicates that the passenger evacuation of the DC-10 was less than textbook. Some passengers insisted on carrying their hand luggage with them as they moved to exit the aircraft. However because they could not carry this on the slides, it had to be left at the exit doors which, in consequence, gradually became obstructed by this. One stewardess failed to remove her high heeled shoes before using the exit 1 right slide, with the result that this was was punctured and partly deflated. The slide beyond the over wing walkway from exit 3 left split into a large L shape tear, at the junction of the two, possibly as a result of the air hose serving it being grabbed by a passenger whilst evacuating the aircraft. And because the evacuation instruction was broadcast to the cabin crew at the same time as the passengers, in the rush for the emergency exits the cabin crew were jostled by passengers as the former tried to open the doors and deploy the slides and the latter tried to get to them. But despite all of this all the passengers were evacuated, in less than a minute and a half, and there were only four slight injuries amongst them. After this the crew disembarked from the DC-10.

On subsequent inspection of the Nº 3 engine it was determined that there had been no fire but that a bleed duct had fractured under the engine, allowing hot air to escape into it and raise the temperature, thus triggering the fire warnings. However the manner in which the bleed duct fractured allowed it to cause collateral damage within the engine. According to the AAIB report the fracture of the bleed duct, in this type of engine, was not an isolated incident. There had been 84 reported bleed duct failures, 16 of them in the six months prior to this accident. Having checked all such engines in its fleet of aircraft, British Airways discovered two more cracked bleed ducts. In consequence it decided to replace the prior visual checks with penetrating flourescent dye tests.

=Damage sustained to airframe=
Per the AAIB Report "Ruptured HP Bleed Manifold, associated damage to an oil vent pipe and combustion chamber casing. Minor damage to engine cowling"

G-BHDI was repaired and returned to service. It continued to serve with British Airways until 21 July 1999, when it was withdrawn from service and stored at Manchester. It was ferried to Venice, California later in July 1999 and re-registered N47831 before being converted to freight configuration in November 1999. It was leased to Luxembourg based Cargo Lion in February 2000 as LX-TLD and operated with them until March 2001 when they ceased trading. It was then stored at Luxembourg. In Aug 2001 it was leased to Ugandan airline DAS Air Cargo, initially as N402JR and re-registered 5X-JCR in February 2004. It was returned to the lessor in February 2006 and leased to Arrow Air in September 2006 as N450ML. It remained in service with Arrow Air until they too ceased operations in June 2010. After 30 years in service it was initially parked at Miami (MIA) and then transferred to Opa-Locka, FL, USA in August 2010. It was broken up there in January 2013.

1. AAIB Final Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ff99ed915d1371000a3d/McDonnell_Douglas_Corp_DC_10-30__G-BHDI_09-89.pdf
2. CAA: https://cwsprduksumbraco.blob.core.windows.net/g-info/HistoricalLedger/G-BHDI.pdf
3. https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=19268.0
4. https://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-dc10-47831.htm

British Airways Douglas DC-10: Seen climbing out from runway 26L at London Gatwick airport, England on 10th July 1994, operating flight BA 225 to Houston (IAH), Texas, U.S.A: G-BDHI in the colours of British Caledonian Airways at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW/KDFW), Texas USA 25 December 1988

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
18-Jul-2022 23:52	Dr. John Smith	Added
18-Jul-2022 23:57	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code]
18-Jul-2022 23:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
19-Jul-2022 08:14	harro	Updated [Operator, Accident report]