May 16, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Firefighters Extinguish Plane Engine Fire After Emergency Landing

Members of the Shreveport Fire Department’s Aviation Task Force extinguished an engine fire in a twin engine Convair cargo plane last night after it made an emergency landing at Shreveport Regional Airport.

The plane was scheduled to land at Shreveport Regional Airport but reported to the tower that they were experiencing a loss in hydraulic and oil pressure. Heavy fire aircraft rescue units were scrambled from the department’s airport station and positioned along the runway prior to the landing at 9:50 p.m. As the plane landed and taxied to a stop, the pilot signaled that everything was ok and that they did not need emergency assistance. Just prior to returning to the station, an alert fire department captain, Gary Caskey, noticed a "glow" coming from under the hood of one the plane’s engines. Upon further inspection, the engine was found to be on fire and efforts were quickly made to extinguish the blaze.

There were three crew members aboard the plane at the time of incident and all were able to deplane with incident or injury. The fire department made quick work of extinguishing the fire using a dry chemical agent called PKP. The fire caused heavy damage to the engine but did not affect any other portion of the plane. The aircraft was not a passenger plane but rather a cargo type being used to transport auto parts. It had left earlier in the evening from Laredo, Texas en route to Shreveport. The entire incident was concluded shortly after 11:00 p.m. The initial call from the tower to the Aircraft Fire-Rescue Task Force at the airport solicited an Alert II status. The different alerts are categorized from I to III: I - minor difficulties, II - major complications prior to landing, III - actual emergency upon landing. ###