KLAS British Airways Flight 2276 Fire on the Ground

On September 8, 2015, British Airways Flight 2276, a Boeing 777-200ER bound for London Gatwick, was accelerating for takeoff on Runway 7L at Las Vegas. At approximately 90 knots, the left General Electric GE90 engine suffered an uncontained failure. This is a rare and dangerous event where internal engine components break through the protective casing, often severing fuel lines. In this case, fuel ignited, resulting in a large fire that began to scorch the fuselage.

The transcript highlights the rapid transition from routine operations to a life-threatening emergency. The pilot’s first call, "Speedbird 2276 heavy, stopping," is a standard Rejected Takeoff (RTO) notification. Within seconds, the situation escalates as the crew sees fire indications, leading to the "Mayday! Mayday!" call. The controller demonstrates high competence by immediately ordering a "go around" for Southwest 2235, who was on final approach for the parallel runway, to clear the airspace and prevent any interference with emergency response.

A notable technical aspect of this incident is the speed of the evacuation. The pilots realized the fire was not being extinguished by the onboard systems and made the decision to evacuate all passengers and crew via the emergency slides directly on the active runway. This is captured in the pilot's urgent second call: "We are evacuating on the runway. We have a fire—I repeat, we are evacuating."

The aftermath of this incident was significant for aviation safety. Despite the intensity of the fire, which caused substantial damage to the aircraft's hull, all 170 occupants survived. The aircraft was eventually repaired by Boeing and returned to service in 2016. This recording is frequently used in CRM (Crew Resource Management) training to demonstrate professional communication and decisive action under extreme pressure.