Air Canada flight returned to Toronto airport after its engine caught fire
New Delhi:
An Air Canada flight bound for Paris with 389 passengers and 13 crew caught fire just minutes after taking off from Toronto Pearson International Airport on Friday.
The flight crew immediately declared “PAN-PAN”, or ‘Possible Assistance Required’ – the internationally standard distress signal, and averted a possible catastrophe when the aircraft returned to the airport without any injuries or casualties.
Excellent work by the pilots and their air traffic controllers dealing with an engine that backfired on takeoff. Heavy plane full of fuel, storms with low clouds, repeated compressor stalls. Calm, competent, professional – well done!
Details: https://t.co/VaJeEdpzcn@AirCanadapic.twitter.com/7aOHyFsR29-Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) June 7, 2024
On Friday, the wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft began takeoff at 12:17 pm (Toronto time). Shortly after takeoff, at 12:39 pm (Toronto time), while the flight was still climbing over the runway, the air traffic controller (ATC) saw the first explosion of sparks from the plane’s right engine and promptly alerted the crew. The engine backfiring was captured on camera by people on the ground.
The incident adds to the long list of accidents reported on Boeing aircraft in recent months.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield shared a video of the aircraft flying with the engine on fire and wrote: “Excellent work by the pilots and their air traffic controllers, dealing with an engine that backfired on takeoff. calm, competent, professional – well done!”
He also shared a reconstruction video, posted on YouTube by ‘You can see the ATC‘, which followed along with a recording of the pilot’s communication with ATC. According to the video, the flight was 300 meters above the ground when Air Canada pilots were alerted to smoke and fire. The flight path in the video showed the craft continuing its ascent before cruising steadily at 3,000 feet. The pilots then deftly turned the craft around and returned to Toronto under scattered lightning and rain at 2,800 feet.
ATC cleared runway 23 for the aircraft in distress to land with fire engines awaiting assistance.
Four minutes after landing, the aircraft continued taxiing, according to the video.
Air Canada released a statement about X and said a stopped compressor caused the fire. “The aircraft landed normally and was met by first aid vehicles as a precaution before taxiing alone to the gate.”
Update on June 5 flight AC872: pic.twitter.com/lkruMaM7KH
-Air Canada (@AirCanada) June 7, 2024
“Passengers were accommodated on another aircraft that same evening,” the airline noted.
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story
