boeing 777 yesterday. kudos for the cabin crew getting all passengers out. questions as well about what led to all of this as flight 2276 began its takeoff. according to the faa a fire in the left hand engine prompted the crew to abort the takeoff and take steps to snuff out the flames. tonight, however, a source close to the investigation tells us the plane s fire suppression system didn t work. they want to know did it simply not function? or did the fuel line rupture make the fire too big to contain. joining me cnn safety analyst les avat, and analyst and faa accident investigator, excuse me, david sousey. wes, the system that helps put out the flames. how does it work exactly? it is a halon system, activated in the cockpit, anderson. when we get a fire warning, we get an electronic fire bell. we get, one of our instrumentation up front in the cockpit, tells us that we have a
incidents like what happened in las vegas, it can certainly rattle their confidence. no question. they ll have questions. richard quest, our aviation and business correspondent. so we have these pictures now. and you look at this, and what s incredible is that the fire is not confined to the engine, it s here. what does that tell you? that the sheer ferocity of the fire. just look at this. this vast hole. some are even suggesting that the fire actually start this way and come out. or was it fed from the engine going in? fuel line rupture a possibility. absolutely. the way in which the fuselage was burnt through, and if you take a look at the engine and you see just how detailed the damage was on the leading edge of the wing, the engine itself. which way did that fire go? was it coming from the engine across or was it coming that way back? that s one of the things that the investigators will be very concerned, because if this plane had gone into the air, if it had gone into the
indication light came on and the engines on this plane are equipped with fire suppression equipment. but it didn t extingish the fire. did the equipment fail or a fuel line rupture cause the fire to spread? british airways flight 2276 burst into flames shortly before takeoff at the las vegas airport with 172 people on board. we were just getting speed to take off and heard a big thud. i opened up the cover of my window and saw flames on the engine. reporter: the pilots of the london bound boeing saw the engine fail and caught fire.
every day. tonight we have learned the fire indication light came on and the engines on this airplane are equipp equipped with fire suppressant, but it didn t extinguish the fire. the question now, did the equipment fail or did a fuel line rupture cause that fire to spread? flames ripped through british airways flight 2276 shortly before takeoff at the las vegas airport, and thick black smoke enduffel the airport with nearly 200 people on board. we heard a big thud, and i saw flames on the gen the pilots were roaring down the runway. heavy, fire services are on the way. we are evacuating.