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Plane Catches Fire On Tarmac In Fort Lauderdale; Flight Going From Fort Lauderdale to Venezuela; Injuries From Dynamic Airways Flight Unknown; Flt. Lauderdale Plane Fire. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 29, 2015 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Kate Bolduan in for Wolf Blitzer. Wherever you are watching around the world, thank you so much for joining us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BOLDUAN: We are continuing to follow breaking news right now out in Fort Lauderdale. Look at these images coming in. A passenger jet has caught fire while taxiing on the tarmac. The plane is a 767. It was operated by Dynamic Airways, an airline that is based out of Greensboro, North Carolina. A lot of details unknown at this moment.

But look at those images. While we watch this, let's bring in our Pamela Brown who's following this story from Washington. Pamela, what more are you learning about what happened here?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're learning, Kate, according to the FAA, that a plane behind this Boeing 67 reported that there appeared to be fuel leaking from the plane. And then, as we see moments later, it caught fire on the runway.

According to WSVN in Fort Lauderdale, there appears to be a fire in the plane's left engine. Immediately, passengers were evacuated down the chute. Of course, we don't know, according to the FAA, how many injuries, if there are any injuries. But it appears that everyone was able to make it off that plane safely, according to WSVN.

This is Dynamic Airways 405. It was leaving from Fort Lauderdale, on its way to Venezuela before this happened, before it caught fire. We know the crews have been on the scene trying to douse the fire to put it out so that they can move in and investigate exactly what happened here.

It's clearly a very frightening scene for everyone around. And people immediately started taking to Twitter. People in other airplanes there on the taxi taking to Twitter. Putting videos out of what they were seeing, pictures out. And now, we are learning more from the FAA that it appears that this was a fire, that there was fuel leaking from that plane. Dynamic Airways, a company that is based in Greensboro, North Carolina. This plane going from Fort Lauderdale on to Venezuela.

And, Kate, you may remember just last month in early September, there was a similar situation in Las Vegas, when the left engine of a British Airways' plane caught fire. And we see the similar scenario plane out with this situation there in Fort Lauderdale -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: I'm looking at this right now. It says that this aircraft carries between 180 and 290 passengers. You said this -- and where did you say this plane was headed?

BROWN: This plane was headed to Venezuela, Kate. So, from Fort Lauderdale on to Venezuela. And, fortunately, they were able to, obviously, you know, catch this. This happened before it took off, before flight.

BOLDUAN: No kidding.

BROWN: So, fortunately, as it was taxiing down the runway, this happened. They were able to put the chute down, as we see in this video right here, and all the passengers were able to evacuate.

Again, our affiliate, WSVN, is saying that it appears everyone walked away from the plane safely. FAA is not able to confirm there are no injuries but we do know that everyone is often that plane -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: In some of the video that we saw coming in, it did appear that there was a person on a stretcher that was being taken to an ambulance. What we're looking at right now is a still photo that we've been able to get.

As you can see, just the black billowing smoke. You can assume -- I mean, it's obviously safe to assume, Pamela, and you know this well in covering this, if this flight's going from Fort Lauderdale to Venezuela, this is a plan -- this is a big plane that's carrying a lot of fuel. The fact that it was leaking as it was taxiing, I mean, you can only imagine what these -- what those passengers were seeing inside.

BROWN: Absolutely. This is a Boeing 67. It's a big plane. As you said, there could have been around 180 passengers on there. It must have been extremely frightening for them when they saw the smoke billowing out there.

As far as injuring go, Kate, you may remember, we just talked about that incident in Las Vegas, there were some injuries from that incident. And it wasn't because the plane caught fire. It was because of the passengers going down the chute.

So, in these situations, sometimes that is a scenario that you see when they go down that chute and the way that they land that could cause injuries. We're still waiting to learn more about that. You mentioned someone may have been taken off in a stretcher. We're waiting to learn more about that.

But no doubt about it, this is a big plane, Kate, with a lot of fuel. And the big question, now, of course, is how did this happen? Why did this happen? Was something missed that led to this fire occurring?

BOLDUAN: Now, I know these pictures that we're looking at, this video, it's says moments ago. These were -- these are not live pictures, I'm just talking to the control room really quickly, right, guys? Not live pictures? But this is, obviously, an ongoing situation. And I would assume, as well, Pamela, that the Fort Lauderdale Airport, right now, is shut down.

BROWN: Absolutely. And, in fact, people, again, are taking to Twitter. It's, often times, a good source of information in these fluid breaking news situations. And they're saying that their plane, you know, has been stopped, that they're still on the runway there. And everything sort of has been halted, as they try to investigate and figure out what happened here.

[13:05:14] So, this is, of course, Fort Lauderdale Airport. A major airport in Florida. And everything seems to be on hold, at this stage. We're still waiting to hear from the airport, though. We have calls out to them, Kate. And I'm still waiting to hear what the latest is there on the ground.

BOLDUAN: And just so everyone know, also what we're looking at here. On left side of your screen, there are going to be live pictures as they're happening right now. You can see workers standing around, moving about. One thing you kind of can see in these images, not at the level of urgency that seems that this is an emergency situation that they're dealing with.

It looks, at least from this shot that we see, things look like it's under control, albeit a lot of unanswered questions. On the right, you're seeing some of the tape that we've been able to get in from affiliates, as well as other sources of video being sent in of that aircraft.

To -- I mean, maybe it's just because I don't know, Pamela, but I have not heard of Dynamic Airways before. We know, obviously, it's based out of Greensboro but do you know anything more about this airline?

BROWN: It's a good question, Kate, because I have been, myself, trying to find out more about it. And we -- from what we've learned, just by going to the Web site, it is a worldwide airline. That goes, as we know, to various countries, including Venezuela where this plane is heading. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina. And their planes -- we know they have a couple planes that they predominantly rely on and that is -- Boeing 767 is one of them. And what we're looking at here is a Boeing 67. It is a large plane that can hold more than 150 passengers -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: I mean, just look at that black mess on the side of that plane. Obviously, you said, you're reporting and you're hearing, is that fuel was leaking. A fire in the left engine. And man, oh, man, you can absolutely see that.

But how far that went before they were able to get these passengers off, we don't know. There is a whole lot that we don't know. We don't know exactly how many passengers were on this flight. We have seen, in some of the images that were coming in, seen people on stretchers, people in wheelchairs. The extent of injuries is absolutely unknown, at this moment.

Pamela is also working to get that kind of detail to come through, at the very same time. And a whole lot of people, right now, at this Fort Lauderdale Airport, probably standing around wondering where their flight -- where their own flight -- when their own flight is going to be taking off and what -- how this has impacted airport operations.

What does the FAA -- what is the FAA telling you, though, Pamela, on basically what happens now? What are the next steps? They're probably in the middle of figuring it out in the middle of this chaos.

BROWN: Well, right now, I'm just getting an e-mail from the FAA that saying the flight was destined for international airport in Caracas, Venezuela so it was going to Caracas, Venezuela from Fort Lauderdale before this fire occurred. And what we believe is the left engine, according to WSVN.

So, from here, once they, you know, make sure everything is doused, the fire is out, what they're going to do is move in and investigate, similar to what they did in Las Vegas, Kate, when another plane, British Airways plane, caught fire. Its left engine caught fire in early September. So, they're going to go in, investigate and first off, see what was the impetus? What caused this?

And then, also look to see, is there something we missed along the way that should have been caught? Of course, those are the big questions that are going to be asked. But, for sure, you bet, Kate, that there's going to be a lot of investigators looking at this because the big thing is this is a Boeing 767. This is a plane that is used, commonly in commercial flights. So, they want to, you know, make sure that other ones out there are safe as well.

BOLDUAN: You're looking at live pictures right now. You can see that crews are still working on that aircraft, dousing it with -- it looks kind of like a foam that they end up spraying on it, obviously to put out any lingering hot spots or fires that might be still coming from that engine.

You're looking at live pictures on your left side. On the right side, you are still looking at some of the taped video that we were able to get in earlier. Are those live on right as well, guys? Apologies. Live on both sides of your screen. And you saw an inspector moving past as they were moving towards that ambulance.

A lot of moving parts here. We're, obviously, working to bring more details in. Pamela's working her sources to get more details. We're making some more calls.

We're going to take a break. We're going to come back, talk much more about this breaking news out of Fort Lauderdale International Airport in -- obviously, in Florida where a Dynamic Airways flight -- a fire on that flight, sitting on the tarmac as it was taxiing. This flight heading to Venezuela.

The extent of the injuries and really what happened here still unknown. We're taking a -- we're going to bring you back. More of this breaking news right after this break.

[13:09:54]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to our viewers. We're continuing to follow the breaking news that you're looking at on your screen. A Dynamic Airways jet lit up in flames, essentially. A left engine in flames as it was taxiing down the runway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

We've got a lot of details coming in. Here's the latest that I'm -- that's we're reading that's coming in to CNN. At 12:45 is when this airline -- when this aircraft started taxiing. An aircraft that was behind this Boeing 767 reported that fuel was leaking from the aircraft just before the fire started.

Passengers -- you saw in one of these shots, you saw that the slide had, obviously, been deployed out of this jet. It says that passengers were evacuated via the slides onto the taxi way. A lot more information still coming out. This was an air -- this was a plane that was flying from Fort Lauderdale to the capital of Venezuela, to Caracas. Obviously, now, it is stuck there in Fort Lauderdale.

A lot still to be understood, why this happened, what extent, if any, injuries there are for the passengers onboard and how many injuries there were.

Let's talk about -- a little bit more about this. We're getting a little bit more details in with Les Abend, the CNN Aviation Analyst. He's also, very importantly in this regard, a -- he flies Boeing 777s. He knows a lot about these planes and how these work.

[13:15:15]

So, Les, talk to me about what you see, from your expert eye, what you see when you see this image right here.

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, sure. I see a - I see a mess initially. You know, it's early on in the reporting stage. I mean I see - I'm looking at a left engine that apparently had some sort of fire situation. Where that fuel leak was, hard to say. All I can tell you is from the perspective of a pilot, when you get a report like that, unless you have some sort of indication or a warning inside the cockpit, you really have no idea because that wing is so far behind you, you can't see it from the cockpit. So it was reported apparently by some other aircraft.

If we are aware of what the situation might - may be, we'll shut that engine down. Fortunately, they weren't airborne. We'd have different procedures then. But it looks like the crew did exactly the right thing. Probably called for the crash fire rescue folks, which you can see in the footage right now that's surrounding the airplane, you know, after the fire.

It looks like they only evacuated out of the forward part of the aircraft. But, you know, this is - this is a situation we really don't want to deal with. Fires are not - not fun circumstances. But we would definitely have gone through a procedure if we got a fire indication in the cockpit and gone through that check list then gone to the - right now looking at the aft end of the wing on the left side, it looks to me like that fire was from the engine. So it -

BOLDUAN: And, Les, that's actually - that's a key question here because this is a plane, this is an aircraft that is - that we - that you obviously have to say, assume, they had just gone through their safety checks, were taxiing in order to take off to go - the flight was - was headed to Venezuela. What happens between - what could happen between the safety check list time before - those procedures, to getting on the - on the taxi way?

ABEND: Sure. Good question. I have flown a 767. I have many hours, very, very reliable aircraft. You know, one of the crew members, either the captain or the co-pilot, would have walked around the airplane. If there was a substantial leak, it certainly would have been found, or any sort of drip or their maintenance department, that they had done a - they generally contract out. This particular airline probably does with some maintenance folks. They would have seen it. So something happened, in answer to your question, from the time that, you know, a particular pilot did his walk-around inspection to when they got to that point that we're looking at footage-wise now.

You know, a fuel leak is not something that you can readily determine from the cockpit. It's just not - it's just not possible to see that until you have a fuel loss situation in flight. So it's really hard to say at this point. It's very speculative at this point in type to see what exactly happened in between the time that it left the gate and where it is parked now on the taxiway.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And as you were saying, it's impossible for those pilots to see that fuel leak as it was just reported and came in to CNN, it was another plane that was actually taxiing behind this 767 who saw the - saw the leak and reported it. And now you can see, obviously, where we are.

Les, if you could, hang on with me. I want to head over to our correspondent, Alina Machado, who's in Miami. Alina's been looking into this airline, into Dynamic Airways, as it's not something that - at least to many of us is readily familiar.

Alina, what more are you learning?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate.

We've learned that Dynamic Airways is actually based in Greensboro, North Carolina. And according to an FAA registry, according to records there, this particular airline is about 29 years old. It had its first flight years ago, in 1986. And it's been leased to Dynamic Airways.

We also know that Dynamic Airways announced earlier this year, back in June, that they were offering their first daily service to Venezuela from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport. And they're saying that this was the only nonstop flight connecting both cities, which is not surprising because in south Florida in particular, especially around the area near Miami, in an area called Dorell (ph), Florida, there is a very large population of Venezuelans who are living here. So it would not be uncommon for Venezuelans to want to go back, obviously, to their home country.

[13:20:01] We know that Ft. Lauderdale Airport is about a 45 minute drive from Miami. It is a major airport. And I'm sure a lot of people are going to be asking questions about what happened with this particular aircraft.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Alina. Alina, stick with me. We're going to get back to you in just a second, as you're trying to dig more on what we're learning from the airplane and if we get any substantial statement from this airline, we will bring it to you. It's really amazing what - just as we kind of sit on this image. There is another image of this plane from the side, when you see how burnt out that left engine is, and then you can see kind of the black smoke, if you will, or the fumes. It's black on the side of that plane. You can just imagine, that image right there, how terrifying that was when the black smoke was coming out for everyone who was on that flight. We don't yet know the extent of injuries. We' don't yet know how many passengers were on this flight. We're getting more information on this breaking news out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We'll be right back with much more on this and what happened to this plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:19] BOLDUAN: We're continuing to follow the breaking news you see right here out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Dynamic Airways jet, a Boeing 767, up - part of this plane leaking fuel, and then the left engine going on fire at one point. We have some images of just how big the billowing black smoke was coming out of this plane. A lot of details still not yet coming in, not yet confirmed how many passengers were on the plane, the extent of the injuries of those on the plane. Just look at that one picture that we received in of what this plane was dealing with at that moment.

They're continuing to try to deal with that plane and the NTSB, FAA, they're all going to be heading in to try to investigate the source of this leak and the problem.

But as we are watching this, we are also keeping an eye on Portsmouth, New Hampshire. That is where Jeb Bush, Republican presidential candidate, he is going to be speaking, really any minute, he'll be speaking this hour after that very wild debate last night. And his performance at that debate, we're going to bring that to you. We're keeping an eye on that.

But, yes, we're going to continue, though, at this moment to follow this breaking news out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and what happened to this Dynamic International Airways Flight 405. It caught fire at 12:45 p.m.

For this, let me bring in the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, most importantly at this moment, a congresswoman from Florida. Obviously, congresswoman, we were going to be talking politics, but

politics we will not be talking at this moment. This is an airport that you know very, very well.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: When you see these images, I just want to get your thoughts on what's happening right now in Ft. Lauderdale.

SCHULTZ: So, Kate, Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport is - is actually in my congressional district and Dynamic Airlines, this particular flight, was about to take off to Venezuela. My hometown of Weston is home to the second largest population of Venezuelans outside of Venezuela, that and Dorell (ph), a little south of us, really are known for their vibrant Venezuelan community. And so there's, you know, obviously my heart goes out to those families and, you know, we're still waiting for the details. But Kent George (ph), the director of Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport and his team of professionals I know are on top of the situation. It appears as though they acted very quickly and were able to get those passengers off the plane. Still waiting to hear the extent of injuries and exactly what happened, but looks like quick action was - was - really made a big difference here.

BOLDUAN: And that's - it is what we're also hearing from our aviation analysts who say it looks like quick action probably stopped something from going from bad to catastrophic and worse.

SCHULTZ: Right.

BOLDUAN: We are getting - we are - I am just hearing right now, congresswoman, from the Broward County Sheriff's Department that there were several injuries after this airplane engine caught fire. That's the extent. No more detail on exactly what that means. There, obviously, was going to be a meeting - media staging area. We're going to be getting a lot more updates. But that's the latest that we've heard.

You talked about that you know - you know the folks who run this airport. You know this airport very well. At this moment, what do you think's happening behind the scenes with airport operations?

SCHULTZ: Well, they know exactly what they're doing at Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International. Like I said, the director, Kent George, is someone who I have worked with for many years. I fly into and out of that airport, you know, multiple times a week. And what I know that they're doing right now is, they are altogether, you know, in a central - in a central location at the airport really quarterbacking and triaging what's gone - what's gone on here, making sure that they can assess, you know, how this happened and taking the steps necessary to make sure that people can be safe. You know, there was a fuel leak. Their first job is to make sure that there's no additional danger to passengers on other airplanes, you know, because, obviously, we want to make sure that - that we contain whatever - whatever damage occurred. BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And it looks like - I mean it is an ongoing

situation as we speak. We're looking at images. Some of - some of what you're seeing, everyone, on your screen will be live pictures coming to you. Also, you're going to see some taped images. Some taped video that we have from earlier. We're going to continue to show you that as we continue our conversation.

Congresswoman, thank you so much. A lot -

SCHULTZ: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Lots more time to talk politics. Today, at this moment, not one of them, but thank you so much for coming out.

SCHULTZ: For sure. I'm heading home to south Florida right now. Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thank you so very much.

SCHULTZ: Take Care.

BOLDUAN: Appreciate it.

SCHULTZ: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Let's continue to follow this breaking news and bring some of the smartest minds that we have on this. Let's bring in CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien, as well as our Richard Quest, who has always been my go to for all things when it comes to airlines and aviation.

[13:30:03] Richard, first to you, what do you see when you're looking at this? As Les Abend described it, an absolute mess sitting there on that taxiway.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes.