I have gained such respect for the FAA and the NTSB in that <i>every</i> crash is followed up with a root cause analysis that all other industries should be in awe of.<p>When this is all over, we'll know exactly what went wrong. We'll see the FAA issue guidance or rule changes that will ensure it doesn't happen again. And then we'll somehow see an even further reduction in airline crashes.<p>I hope that in a few more years, as more companies join the industry, we may see a similar pattern start to evolve in the space launch industry.
Boeing 767 crashes or emergencies are extremely rare: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Boeing_767" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Accidents_and_inciden...</a><p>Most are related to human intervention such as terrorism, pilot error, fuel error and only a very small amount are mechanical errors. Of the 12 problems, only 5 were mechanical error. I wonder what the cause of this will be.
For reliable updates and objective information, as always, consult avherald. For this accident: <a href="http://avherald.com/h?article=4c497c3c&opt=0" rel="nofollow">http://avherald.com/h?article=4c497c3c&opt=0</a>
Here's the ATC chatter around it: <a href="http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kiah/KIAH-App-Feb-23-2019-1830Z.mp3" rel="nofollow">http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kiah/KIAH-App-Feb-23-2019-...</a>
VASAviation (Youtuber that publishes ATC recordings and plots them on a map with weather) for this incident:<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cn58iVuzBY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cn58iVuzBY</a> [2mins30]
On Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Air_Flight_3591" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Air_Flight_3591</a>
I can’t comment on the cause, but it reminds me of a UPS cargo plane fire in Dubai. Lithium batteries can’t be extinguished using oxygen-deprivation methods. It is typically the kind of goods that are shipped by plane by mistake.<p>It was featured in an Air Crash Investigation episode named “Fatal Delivery”. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6</a>
Hopefully they have a contingency plan to keep those Prime parcels on time.<p>Edit: They must have contingency plans for such scenarios. That's part of the job.
But I think that it is not possible to keep to the initial schedule, so I'm guessing that the plan is to re-despatch ASAP to minimise delays while displaying the standard "delayed-apologises" to customers.