EXPOSED: Delta's engine trouble is about more than just engine trouble
Delta insists on using older planes — which obviously are more prone to problems
Delta is encountering some turbulence, but it’s due to stinginess, not the wind. According to CBS, a Delta passenger jet caught fire on the tarmac at Orlando International Airport on Monday and passengers had to evacuate via the emergency exit slides, the Federal Aviation Authority.
Specifically, “Delta Air Lines Flight 1213, bound for Atlanta, was pushing back from the gate for departure at around 11:15 a.m. local time on Monday when an engine caught fire, the FAA said in a statement. There were no initial reports of injuries from the incident.
Passenger Kyle Becker, who was sitting in row 35, said he opened the window as soon as he heard people yell "fire!"
"There was a fire on the engine," Becker told CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave. "[It] was a little scary...just never had happened to me before. Start thinking, like, OK, what are the next steps. Trying to remain calm."
…crew members evacuated the cabin when flames were seen in the tailpipe of one of the plane's two main engines and fire crews quickly responded. According to Delta, the plane, an Airbus 330, had 282 passengers, 10 flight attendants and two pilots on board.
"We appreciate our customers' cooperation and apologize for the experience," the airline said in a statement. "Nothing is more important than safety and Delta teams will work to get our customers to their final destinations as soon as possible."
Well, actually, that’s not true: for Delta, as most with other big corporations, nothing is more important than making money. Because if safety really were the most important thing, the airline would have one of the newest fleets in the industry, instead of — and this is well-documented — one of the oldest.
The plane that caught fire in Orlando was an Airbus A330-200. That kind of aircraft entered service in 1998 — more than a quarter century ago! Now, credit where it’s due: there is no doubt that Delta has one of the best maintenance programs in the industry. I recently flew one of those old birds from Athens to New York JFK in full confidence, despite the fact that Comfort+ turned out to be more like Comfort- because rudeass pax behind me kept kicking my seat and no flight attendant bothered to intervene.
However…Delta is engaged in deceptive marketing practices, because it often advertises routes with brand new planes only to switch them out for older ones, after you’ve bought your ticket. This happened most recently on a new JFK-Palm Springs route, which was marketed as using a cool new A220, only to shift to an older A319 within a matter of weeks.
As for Athens-New York? When I purchased my ticket the Delta website clearly stated the aircraft used would be a new A330-900neo — but, as we’ve reported, it turned out to be a much older A330-200. Not nice, Delta.
When asked about this bait-and-switch, a Delta rep pointed us to the boilerplate conditions of carriage which do state that the airline reserves the right to change aircraft, and my guess is this is in compliance with FAA regulations. However, systematically advertising one kind of airplane while providing another is misleading, and may run afoul of FTC regulations.
We’d still rather fly a 20-year-old Airbus than a two-year old Boeing, so there’a also that. But come on Delta, y’all need to do better.
More from CBS: “The FAA said it will investigate the incident and Delta said maintenance teams will examine the aircraft.
CBS News transportation and safety expert Robert Sumwalt, the former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said it's important to act fast whenever there's a fire reported on an airplane.
"Certainly, if you've got fire on the airplane and you have the opportunity to do so, get those passengers off the airplane and get them off quickly," Sumwalt said.
In this case, Sumwalt said it looks like fuel got into the tailpipe and then it was ignited.
"The Airbus has an automatic start sequence, and ideally, the ignition occurs before the fuel is poured into it. It looks like somehow fuel got into the tailpipe and then it was ignited. It's supposed to happen the other way around," Sumwalt explained.
The engine fire marks the latest aviation scare involving the airline in recent months. In February, 21 people were injured after a Delta plane flipped upside down while landing amid wintry conditions at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All of the injured passengers were later released from the hospital. In January, several people were injured after a Delta flight aborted its takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, forcing about 200 passengers to evacuate the plane through emergency slides.