Engine of AI B777 from US to Mumbai catches fire

MUMBAI: An Air-India Boeing 777 ready for a long-haul, non-stop flight with almost 330 people and 130 tons of fuel onboard turned back minutes after taking off from Newark airport on Sunday evening and made an emergency landing with one of its two engines on fire.
All the passengers and crew are safe, but it was a close shave as the plane made a difficult landing.The aircraft has been grounded with a dead engine and three deflated wheels.
The plane, bound for a 14-hour journey to Mumbai, was packed with 313 passengers, 12 cabin crew members, four pilots and weighed in excess of 300 tons when it took off at 4.35pm, US local time.
“Seconds after it lifted off the runway, when it was barely at 100 feet, the pilots noticed that the left-hand engine functioning had exceeded normal parameters,” said a source. Immediately, the captain began reducing the thrust of the affected engine to bring its parameters within safe limits. “Even as they were doing so, the pilots were informed about flames in the left-hand engine by several people, including the air traffic controller, the cabin crew and the cockpit crew of other aircraft in the vicinity,” added the source. No fire alarm went off in the cockpit, but passengers and flight attendants could see the flames.
There were reports that the aircraft had a bird hit. But airline sources and also the Air-India spokesperson denied it.
“The captain decided to turn back and land without delay,’’ said the source. The critical feature of the emergency landing was that the aircraft, with 130 tons of fuel and over 320 people on board, was well beyond B777’s prescribed maximum landing weight of 251.2 tons.
“It weighed in excess of 300 tons and with an engine on fire, the captain decided not to jettison fuel, the general procedure followed to reduce the weight of the landing aircraft,’’ the source added.
Heavier the aircraft, greater its speed needs to be to keep it from stalling. That means a higher approach speed and heavier touch down. The plane came in to land at a speed of about 330kmph, which was roughly about 70kmph more than the average approach speed of such aircraft. The left engine had failed.
“The landing was very eventful. Three tyres deflated, but what was critical was that the aircraft safely come to a halt before the fire could spread to its fuel-loaded wings,” said the source. “The pilots did a very commendable job. It was one of those days when all those decades of training and experience came to use.”
The Air-India spokesperson said the Newark-Mumbai flight 144 had to return back and do an emergency landing because of an engineering problem. “The passengers were accommodated on other flights and on our flight to Delhi,” the official said.