Investigation begins into why engine ‘exploded’ during flight
FRENCH aviation investigators arrived in Canada yesterday amid questions over the cause of an apparent engine explosion that forced an Air France plane to make an emergency landing.
Passengers reported hearing a loud bang on the Paris-los Angeles flight, followed by vibrations that shook the cabin for 20 minutes.
By the time the Airbus A380 superjumbo jetliner landed at a military airfield in Goose Bay, Newfoundland on Saturday, the cowling covering one of the plane’s four engines had been completely torn off.
Pamela Adams, a passenger, said there was “a tremendous bang… like the plane hit a Jeep at 35,000ft. We grabbed on to something and then we sat down, and the plane righted itself fairly soon.”
Another passenger, Daniel Mcneely, said those in window seats said the entire engine exploded “in a giant fireball”.
Passengers nervously joked to each other as they tried to work out what had happened, Ms Adams said. Some thought the plane struck a bird.
The incident revived memories of engine damage to a Qantas A380 shortly after take-off seven years ago.
The Nov 2010 incident prompted the grounding of the entire Qantas A380 fleet – six airliners at the time – for more than three weeks. There were no injuries among the 520 people on board the French airliner. Passengers completed their journey on two planes sent by Air France to Goose Bay.