A B767-300 Crew reported that; after parking at the destination gate; ground personnel extinguished a small brake fire caused by hydraulic fluid leaking onto a brake. Maintenance plugged the line; MEL'ed the brake and the crew flew the aircraft the next day.
Synopsis
A B767-300 Crew reported that; after parking at the destination gate; ground personnel extinguished a small brake fire caused by hydraulic fluid leaking onto a brake. Maintenance plugged the line; MEL'ed the brake and the crew flew the aircraft the next day.
Narrative
Captain's landing in a 767-300; dry runway; [and] light winds down the runway with a landing weight of approximately 295;000 and ref plus 30 of 139 KTS. Touched down on speed with spoilers auto deploying; auto brakes were set at two and thrust reverser deployed at touchdown. All systems seemed to be working fine. Rolled to end of runway and turned around and taxied back on runway to enter ramp at Taxiway C. All seemed normal until Station Manager asked if there was a problem with the aircraft. He said a ground crew had to use an extinguisher on the number six main brake assembly due to a small fire. Fire was easily extinguished and once looked at closely saw that there was a small continuous hydraulic leak at brake number six and this coming in contact with brake number six had caused the fire. To accelerate the cooling down time so maintenance could determine their course of action; forced cool air was blown on brake number six assembly and once it was cool; airport fire crews washed off the residual fire extinguisher powder. After this Contract Maintenance further inspected brake number six and determined that the braking system was fine except for the leak. Contract Maintenance and Company agreed that the brake line could be plugged according to MEL and flown back. Due to lack of plug and approaching crew duty day all crew members were sent to hotel. Runway conditions were dry and winds down the runway. Aircraft was flown on speed and touched down in speed with spoilers; auto brakes two and thrust reversers used. All systems worked fine except for what we know now was a leak in the number six brake assembly. A good job was done by an aware ground crew to extinguish the fire early avoiding any further damage. [We] flew aircraft back next morning with no problem.
Second reporter narrative
The fire department had been called as a precaution. No further fire or damage was noted. Subsequently it was reported that a small amount of fluid from the brakes had leaked and ignited. It probably started after gate arrival since the fluid could then accumulate and heat could build up.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.