Incident Overview
The flight was delayed several hours from its originally scheduled departure because cargo had not yet been loaded. The first officer and engineer had entered the airplane and laid down in the bunk beds at the aft end of the upper deck. The captain boarded about 0245 and noted that the cargo loading process was well under way. He became busy determining the fuel load and other changes to the flight plan. Suddenly, the ground crew call signal sounded, and the captain was told that the aircraft was on fire. He ordered the crew to evacuate. All flight crew members exited the airplane through the L1 boarding door.
Evacuation and Initial Observations
An employee of Tower Air, standing on the left side of the airplane near the nose, noticed sparks at the lower right side of the fuel truck, which was located under the right wing near the ladder. He saw flames on the lower side of the truck under the right wing. He immediately signaled the flight deck crew, who were in the cockpit, and realizing they might not be aware of the urgency, he ran up the stairs and yelled "Fire."
Refueler's Account
The refueler had pumped 6,000 gallons of Jet A into the right wing and was standing on the deck over the pump when he noticed white to light gray smoke coming from the bottom of the truck's cab and directly under him. He tried to disconnect the upper deck hoses from the airplane, but before he could, he saw flames coming from the same area of the truck. He attempted to put out the fire with a handheld extinguisher, without success.
Investigation Findings
Examination of the fuel truck revealed intense fire damage near the truck's transmission. A hole was found in the fuel line from the pump to the hose, directly above the area of the most intense fire damage. The Metropolitan Dade County Fire Department report stated that the fire damage on the truck's engine was possibly due to burning jet fuel from fueling operations at the time of the fire, from under the vehicle in the area between the cab and tank. Due to severe damage to that area, the source of the fuel leak could not be determined.