Pilots had to make an emergency landing in São Paulo, Brazil, after a Boeing 737 cargo plane caught fire during its flight on Saturday.
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In the early hours of November 8th, two crew members aboard a Total Cargo Boeing 737-400 RS successfully landed their burning aircraft in São Paulo, Brazil. After bringing the plane to the ground, they used the emergency escape rope to rappel safely from a window.
🚨Today: A Total Cargo Boeing 737-400 had a fire onboard and made an emergency landing at Guarulhos Airport, São Paulo, Brazil. Both crew members survived, evacuating via an escape rope from the cockpit. Footage shows significant fuselage damage. The aircraft (reg. PS-TLB) was… pic.twitter.com/lvou9Hl42W
— RadarBox (@RadarBoxCom) November 9, 2024
The drama unfolded during a brief flight from Vitoria when the crew declared an emergency on final approach. Upon landing, controllers reported visible flames as the plane came to a halt on the runway. Fortunately, the pilots were unharmed. The fire is believed to have originated in the cargo hold.
Per AVweb, the plane departed around 11:34 p.m. on Friday and landed approximately an hour later. Upon landing, firefighters were waiting on the runway to tackle a persistent blaze that raged for several hours.
Airport Personnel Hauled the Boeing Cargo Plane Off the Runway Eight Hours After the Emergency Landing
Images widely shared on social media show firefighters battling the blaze on the Total Cargo Boeing 737. By around 7 am, firefighters were seen pulling cargo from the plane. More than eight hours after the incident, the damaged airframe was finally towed away from the runway.
A cargo fire destroyed the Total Linhas Aéreas Boeing 737-4Q8 (SF) aircraft (PS-TLB, Built 1994) at Sao Paulo after the emergency landing earlier today.
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) November 9, 2024
This aircraft had joined the fleet of Total Linhas Aéreas in June 2024, leased from Hamden Aviation.
📸 Courtesy: Eric Breno… pic.twitter.com/4s6UhtOGBH
Of course, armchair experts across the internet weighed in on what could’ve been the cause of the fire aboard the Boeing 737 cargo plane.
“Lithium batteries are dangerous,” one X user speculated. “I bet it’s an electric vehicle battery. Cargo planes have some serious fire suppression measures,” another user offered.
“Sao Paolo airports are cursed! Always having incidents,” a third user offered.
Meanwhile, the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (Cenipa) announced that it would investigate the causes of the fire and the forced landing. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.