Malindo Air jetliner suffers engine trouble too
THE Boeing 737 was en route from Lahore to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday when one engine seized up in Indian airspace.
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KUALA TERENGGANU news@nst.com.my
HOURS after an AirAsia X aircraft was forced to turn back to Perth with engine trouble while flying to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, another Malaysian jetliner had to make an emergency landing in New Delhi.
Malindo Air Flight OD132, a Boeing 737-900 from Lahore, Pakistan, had a starboard engine failure at an altitude of 35,000ft (about 10,606m), some 278km southeast of New Delhi.
The aircraft, with registration number 9M-LNF and powered by twin CFM56 engines, experienced engine failure three hours after departing Lahore at 9.25pm on Sunday.
The pilots shut power to the troubled engine when it seized, radioed emergency services and turned the aircraft around, directing it towards New Delhi, where the aircraft landed safely 40 minutes later.
Officials involved in the investigations said a ground engineering crew inspected the jetliner and discovered that the accessory gearbox had fractured, causing a tear and a crack.
They said the crew determined that the damage resulted in low engine oil pressure, thus causing the engine to seize midair.
Department of Civil Aviation director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told the New Straits Times a full report had been submitted by the airline for investigations to proceed.
“We are looking into details of the incident to determine the cause of the engine failure. Relevant parties (like the engine manufacturer) will help in the probe.”