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A Virgin Australia 737-800 has been temporarily taken out of service following a brake fire at Brisbane Airport on Thursday night.
VH-YVD had just landed in Brisbane at around 7pm on flight VA454 from Darwin when its brakes caught alight, with firefighters quickly moving to extinguish the blaze.
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None of the 178 passengers or any of the crew on board were injured, and the aircraft will be inspected by Virgin engineers before returning to service.
“Airport firefighters responded to a brake fire on flight VA454 which occurred after landing at Brisbane Airport last night,” a Virgin spokesperson said in a statement.
“The fire was quickly extinguished, and all guests and crew disembarked normally and safely.
“We thank our crew and airport firefighters for their swift response. The safety of our guests and crew is always our highest priority.”
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Speaking to the ABC, aviation consultant Keith Tonkin said brake fires are uncommon but “relatively regular”, often occurring due to overheating, and can usually be contained around the landing gear, allowing passengers to disembark quickly.
“Some of the reasons the brakes can get hot are because they may have been sticking or grabbing or locked on,” he said.
“Or it could be that the aircraft was overweight or the pilots, for some reason, had to hold the brakes for longer … and cause a lot of energy to go into them during the landing.”
There were no delays or impacts to scheduled Virgin flights as a result of the incident.
