‘Flare’ in aircraft engine on descent to landing

An Air NZ flight from Blenheim to Auckland landed safely after a captain saw a flare in an engine, the airline has said. Fire and Emergency responded to reports of a plane engine fire at Auckland International Airport at 1.20pm yesterday. Air NZ said the captain saw a flare from the right-hand engine as they approached Auckland. Passenger Mary Kisler was sitting near the right-hand engine on the flight. The Auckland woman said she did not see the flare come from the engine but a passenger behind her did. ‘‘The really lucky thing is that it happened after we started the descent. I think if it was mid-flight it could have been different.’’ This was not Kisler’s first scare. A few years ago she and her husband were on a Singapore Airlines flight at Auckland Airport that was also evacuated due to a fire. However, this time involved much less waiting around, she said. ‘‘It was all professionally handled, they put the plane down beautifully.’’ Emergency services were called to be on standby as per protocol and the aircraft would be inspected by airline engineers before flying again, a spokesperson said.