Pay No Mind to That Flaming Airbus A380 at DFW Airport. It's Only a Drill.

Drivers traveling past DFW Airport today may have noticed the cloud of black smoke rising into the air. This guy did, at least:...

By Eric Nicholson

November 28, 2012

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Drivers traveling past DFW Airport today may have noticed the cloud of black smoke rising into the air. This guy did, at least:

There is a plane on fire at DFW... twitter.com/legerdemain/st...
— Jonas M Luster (@legerdemain) November 28, 2012

That seems like it would be cause for concern, but DFW spokesman David Magana explained that it wasn't a real plane on fire, just a fake one. "It's a mock-up of an A380" aka the world's largest commercial passenger jet. "I think it's the first one in North America," he said.

Pretty impressive, I guess, but that didn't really explain why it was on fire. So Magana elaborated. DFW has training center on site that teaches firefighters how to combat aircraft fires, extinguish jet fuel, et cetera. Sometimes, that involves igniting mock-ups of aircraft.

"We've had a firefighter training facility ... for probably 15 years," Magana said. "It's been undergoing renovation for about the past year. It's just about ready to start classes and training again."

Which means that you'll be seeing more plumes of smoke coming from DFW.

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