News British Airways A319 dual engine incident

garyw

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Both runways were closed at Heathrow Airport after a British Airways (BA) plane made an emergency landing, the airport has said.
All passengers and crew were "safely evacuated" from the plane following an engine fault at about 09:00 BST.
BA said the Heathrow to Oslo service turned back after a technical fault. Witnesses reported seeing flames coming from the engine.
The southern runway has reopened. The northern runway remains closed.



BA said the Airbus A319 was carrying 75 passengers - who were safely evacuated - and a "full investigation" would be conducted into the incident.
Lots of speculation, lots of passengers with the normal 'I thought we were all doing to DIE!!' type statement.


Pictures are starting to emerge. It looks like a bird strike to both engines with fire bottles discharged into the left engine but the right left running to allow them to limp back to the airport.


BLA8z88CUAEjCm9.jpg:large


9225784-1-1-522x293.jpg


It seems that one passenger had a clue as he had this to say:

The passenger who tweeted the picture above, @TBoneGallagher has just been interviewed on the BBC.

Quick notes: 8-9 minutes into flight, there was a loud popping sound. Looked to left window, left side engine cover blown off. Apparently the same happened on the right at the same sort of time.

Captain came on intercom, said they were aware, both engines were functioning normally, they were running tests.

About five minutes after that, loud sound, right engine clearly on fire, flames, smoke visible from cabin.

Plane banked to right, no more severely than normal LHR stacking, flew back to LHR.

The flight was no less smooth than normal.

Cabin crew very professional.
 
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ADSWNJ

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Nice job by the Speedbird pilots, as always. Will be interesting to see what AvHerald has to say later.
 

N_Molson

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Captain came on intercom, said they were aware, both engines were functioning normally, they were running tests.

In Chernobyl too they were running a test :hide:
 

garyw

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More rumours appearing. People are now saying that it's not a bird strike and that A319's have had engine cowl detachments happen in the past, often at the acceleration point about 8 minutes after take off - right where this A319 experienced issues.

This report talks about an incident 10 years ago that mirrors what happened with BA today.
 

garyw

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New photo has been released. Something took out the right engine.

article-2330187-19F92FCD000005DC-642_634x551.jpg


The flight path:

csse7a.jpg
 

Urwumpe

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Can it also be related to the type of engines used?
 

garyw

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Probably, this photo is from an unlocked engine cowl incident on an A320 in the US:

55283_1096492059.jpg


Looks a lot like the BA engine photos.
 

Evil_Onyx

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I'm holding off making any assumptions about this case until a preliminary AAIB is out.

Superb flying by the Pilots getting the bird down with one engine out and the other damaged. I would expect nothing less from a BA crew, Beers on me if they are ever up this way.
 

N_Molson

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Anything on the fan blades conditions ? That would confirm the bird strike theory.

Also, could the fire bottles discharge automatically jettison engine cowls (to help cooling, or maybe because of the pressure induced by the fire extinguisher) ?

What is sure is that they were lucky to have 1 engine still running.
 

garyw

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Also, could the fire bottles discharge automatically jettison engine cowls (to help cooling, or maybe because of the pressure induced by the fire extinguisher) ?

That has been suggested but it doesn't fit.

Firstly, the cowl departing the aircraft could impact the plane, any fire bottle discharge that also jettisoned the cowling would fail FAA/CAA certification testing.

Secondly, on landing both engines thrust reversers worked. This means that the left engine wasn't shut down but was at idle. This shows that the fire bottles were not discharged into either engine as they can't be fired without cutting the electronics, fuel, power, etc.
 

Linguofreak

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More rumours appearing. People are now saying that it's not a bird strike and that A319's have had engine cowl detachments happen in the past, often at the acceleration point about 8 minutes after take off - right where this A319 experienced issues.

This report talks about an incident 10 years ago that mirrors what happened with BA today.

If only one engine had lost its cowling that would make sense. But simultaneous loss of the cowlings on both engines without flying through a flock of birds seems a bit too coincidental to me.
 

garyw

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amazing photo of the A319 on approach to LHR.

baw_a319_g-euoe_london_130524_5.jpg
 

N_Molson

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Secondly, on landing both engines thrust reversers worked. This means that the left engine wasn't shut down but was at idle

Ah, that's an important fact. So the engine had not cut off, it was "only" unable to deliver a nominal thrust. BTW, it seems a bit dangerous to use thrust reversers on a damaged engine, could lead to a "inferno on the runway" scenario, no ?
 

george7378

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As usual this seems to be a situation which didn't endanger the plane, but wow - could anything more scary-looking have happened?
 

garyw

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As usual this seems to be a situation which didn't endanger the plane

One engine at idle, the other leaking fuel, both engine cowls missing and ECAM alerts all over the place... I'd say that the plane was endangered.

Ah, that's an important fact. So the engine had not cut off, it was "only" unable to deliver a nominal thrust.

Not true, the engine was at idle, not shut down and able to deliver thrust. It seems that when the crew realised they had issues with both engines they reduced the left to flight idle and fly on the right. This way, the left would still be available if they needed to use it for power should the left give up.

BTW, it seems a bit dangerous to use thrust reversers on a damaged engine, could lead to a "inferno on the runway" scenario, no ?

Not really, look at Manchester - everything was fine until the plane turned allowing the wind to blow smoke into the cabin. In this case the crew elected to stop on the runway after finding out that the wind was all head wind.
 

gnite

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On an aviation forum that I visit there's a guy that's working maintenance on those BA birds. From what he said, a couple of mechanics were checking the engines, found that they needed some oil change. So they went for the tools leaving the cowlings down but unlatched, instead of open supported on some struts. When they came back they found that they were wrong and no oil change was needed. So they closed them properly and all, only they went to the wrong plane the second time, and the first one was left with the cowlings unlatched.
 
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