UK authorities deny US investigators' claim that one engine shut down and one was on fire before Heathrow emergency landing
The UK air accident investigation board (AAIB) has denied reports from US safety authorities that the British Airways jet which made an emergency landing last week at Heathrow did so with one engine shut down and the other on fire.
The AAIB, which is expected to publish an interim report on Friday, took the rare step of denying reports from the website of the US national transportation safety board (NTSB), which is assisting the AAIB, on the incident.
British investigators did not, however, contradict a US claim that heavy protective coverings, or cowls, on both engines were torn from the plane on or after takeoff.
The information from the US government, if correct, suggests the plane came closer to potential catastrophe – making the incident much more serious than so far revealed, safety experts say.
The London-Oslo flight BA762 returned to land at Heathrow soon after takeoff on the morning of Friday 24 May. Passengers on board and witnesses below saw smoke billowing from the plane, which landed safely, with the 75 passengers and crew evacuated via emergency slides.
The NTSB is assisting the investigation because the engines were manufactured for Airbus in the US. On its website, it noted that the BA plane saw "the engine cowls from both International Aero Engines V2500 engines separate and fall on to the runway. The pilots reported that they shut down one engine, there was a fuel leak, and that they were returning."
The NTSB continued: "The pilots subsequently reported that one engine was shut down and the other engine was on fire." The AAIB later asserted that this information was incorrect.
It has emerged that Airbus has noted 32 similar incidents on its A320 family of planes, including the A319, in which the engine cowls – roughly equivalent to the bonnet of a car – have flown open or detached in flight, causing potentially serious damage to the plane. The manufacturer issued a safety briefing last year, urging crews to be aware of the risk of cowls not being properly closed.
The AAIB's full conclusion is likely to be months away, but it will issue a special bulletin on Friday. BA said it would not comment on the incident but was conducting an investigation, co-operating fully with the AAIB and awaiting its full report.
David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight Global, said: "This was more serious than we realised at the time – this was a serious incident. If you have fires in the engine, and cowls falling from both engines, that is very dangerous." He added that the crew did well to avert loss of life on board and under the flight path.
Passenger Jean Ralphs, who was sitting in seat 3F, says she saw an engine cowl detach. "I saw vapour streaming off the right-hand engine and a colourless liquid streaming from the exposed pipes. It was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the engine caught fire.
"I know that we all nearly died on that flight. I fail to understand how such a dangerous maintenance issue can be allowed to continue. Why have all Airbuses not been grounded until this is sorted out?"
Airbus declined to comment. Last July the Airbus safety publication stressed the importance of pre-flight checks and the danger of assuming cowls were properly closed, warning that inadvertent opening was a "major hazard" that could cause "heavy damage".
Learmount said it seemed clear that there was an issue with maintenance. He said: "It's emerging that it's very difficult to see – the underside of the engines is where the latches are and the ground clearance is 18 inches. Airbus has done several things over the years which has made them more visible – but unless you get down on your stomach and check during the walkaround you may miss it."
He added: "Whether there was something else that happened in addition – or as a result – of the cowl failure is still unclear."
The incident closed both runways at Heathrow briefly, but the stoppage saw British Airways cancel all short-haul flights until 4pm that day – a decision that left thousands stranded, with many foreign connecting travellers left in London or in the airport for two days. Passengers complained of chaos at the airport and accused the airline of not doing enough to help, with reports of nine-hour queues for desk service and a lack of response on telephone helplines.
A BA spokeswoman said the effects had been compounded by the incident's timing on a bank holiday weekend when flights were very full, making it difficult to swiftly rebook onward travel. However, she said the airline had put calls out for extra staff to volunteer and added extra phone lines, albeit with some rerouting to call centres in India and Jacksonville in the US.