BA PLANE 'ON FIRE' OVER LONDON

http://news.sky.com/story/1095039/plane-on-fire-flying-over-central-london



A British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport as eyewitnesses reported seeing the aircraft "on fire" flying over central London.

A man who only gave his first name as Jamie told Sky News: "As you looked up you could just see the flames being chucked out of the engine ... It was on full fire when we saw it."

Both runways were shut at the West London airport where the London Fire Brigade confirmed that they had attended to an "aircraft fire."

Clive Cook, who lives under the flight path, told Sky News: "The actual engine itself was on fire.

"This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically, and I could almost say it sounded as if it was like a blowout, or an explosion."

What happened on the Oslo bound aeroplane is not thought to be terror related and all passengers are safe and well.

Sky News presenter Jeremy Thompson was on a different flight coming into Heathrow and said that the pilot told them that they were being held up by a "bird strike" on a plane.

A statement from British Airways said: "Flight BA762 departed Heathrow at 8.16am and returned at 8.43am due to an engine technical fault.

"The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 customers and five crew.

"The aircraft landed safely and cabin crew evacuated customers using emergency slides. Airline colleagues are now caring for customers in the airport terminal.

"The airline has begun a full investigation into the incident and is working with the Air Accident Investigation Bureau to establish the cause."

Sky's Richard Suchet added: "Shortly after it was airborne, somebody in air traffic control spotted a fault with one of the engines and alerted the pilot. The pilot then turned round and came back to the airport."

Captain Mark Searle, chairman of airline pilots' association Balpa, congratulated the crew.

He said: "As pilots we spend our whole career training to manage incidents such as this in order to avoid an incident becoming a disaster."
One picture shared on Twitter appears to show the engine that was not on fire exposed as it is overworked.

Commenting on the damage to the covering around that engine, aviation safety investigator, David Gleave, said: "It's not got much structural strength in it at all so it doesn't affect the ability of the aeroplane to actually hold onto its engine and keep it on the wing."

The plane has been towed away and both runways have reopened.

The fire came at the start of one of the year's busiest travel periods as people head abroad for the Bank Holiday weekend.

Normand Boivin, Heathrow Chief Operating Officer, said: "The temporary closure will result in a number of cancelled flights throughout the day and passengers are advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport."

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OMG.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333956/British-Airways-maintenance-staff-left-engine-doors-open-emeregency-plane-causing-rip-fuel-line-off.html

That was so, so close to being a mega-disaster right over London.

That is the fault of The Pilot, ultimately.

From the little I could make out due to not being a plane mechanic, these non-RR engines are designed in such a way that the latches can't be seen properly on the pilot's walk-round, so he couldn't tell that maintenance had forgotten to put the lid on them....

Dunno if that's right or not, but it does make sense, together with this bit:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/ground-failures-blamed-for-british-airways-heathrow-emergency-in-which-one-engine-caught-fire-8640083.html

The problem of engine panels falling off Airbus narrow-bodied jets was highlighted last July in the manufacturer’s Safety First magazine. The article, “Preventing Fan Cowl Door Loss,” revealed that panels had fallen off no fewer than 32 times, and that: “This type of damage represents a major hazard”.

They can be seen if looked at properly, Bonny. Otherwise how would the ground crew know? I won't bore you with the details, but while the ground crew are also responsible, the buck stops with The Captain.

The ground crew didn't know, though....I actually find it more than possible that, in the 21st century, someone has designed airplane engines that cannot be properly checked visually.

It wasn't easy in the 1950s, Bonny. We all used to say that Aircraft Designers should have to work on the bloody things. But if it can be got at to open then it can be got at to be closed, and it can be checked. Nothing else makes sense.

PS. This is one of the reasons for why I never fly.

Ah, but this is the whizzy, hi-tech 21st century, Sabot, where things are no longer designed to be idiot-proof. So, as it appears that this has happened no fewer than THIRTY-TWO times before, thankfully with less damage and danger, it is entirely possible that some genius has designed a super-duper new engine that can't actually be visually checked..

So how did they get the covers off then?

Very easily, often several thousand feet in the air?

As I was saying....

RAF unable to teach new pilots for five months after propellers fall off two training aircraft in mid-flight grounding entire fleet
The German-built Grob 115E Tutor aircraft have not flown since January 9th
It follows two incidents at RAF Cranwell in January and in August last year
On both occasions propeller came off in flight forcing an emergency landing
Row has broken out between manufacturer and maintenance contractor


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333721/RAF-unable-teach-new-pilots-months-propellers-fall-training-aircraft-mid-flight-grounding-entire-fleet.html#ixzz2Uv9R9T8R
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I swear people are getting stupider, and more and more incompetent.