A JUMBO jet captain was forced to make an emergency landing after running low on fuel following the mid-air failure of one of its four engines.
The British Airways flight 268, which had 351 passengers on board, was met by a fleet of fire engines on Manchester Airport's runway 2 after the captain made a mayday call to the control tower yesterday afternoon.
Onlookers saw the plane, which had been travelling from Los Angeles to London Heathrow, appear to brake hard as it landed.
The captain first noticed a problem an hour after take-off when engine number two on the port side of his aircraft experienced a power surge. The pilot switched off the broken engine and continued his journey across America with the three remaining engines.
Although he had calculated that the plane could safely make its destination, the plane encountered some unexpected headwind over the Atlantic Ocean, which depleted its fuel reserves further.
The pilot decided not to risk flying to Heathrow and made a mayday call asking to land at Manchester without wasting any more fuel by waiting in the skies.
Procedure
It landed around 4pm on Sunday.
Plane enthusiast Dave Kennedy from Chorlton witnessed the drama from the Aviation Viewing Point, on Wilmslow Road, close to the airport.
He said: "All the emergency services were going mad and the fire engines had their lights flashing. The 747 then dropped down onto runway 2 and appeared to make a short landing. It appeared to brake hard. I could not see any damage to the engine."
A spokeswoman for BA confirmed the captain had made a "diversion landing" but stressed he followed the normal procedure.
She said: "He came in on Mayday because it gave him a priority landing so he did not have to waste any more fuel waiting. If it had have been critical then he would have diverted into a US airport.
"He decided not to go the extra distance to Heathrow. The plane was not flying on fumes."
A spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed that staff had been on a "full emergency" alert.
The passengers were later safely transferred to Heathrow on alternative flights.
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Miss 'X', Hampshire (23/02/2005 at 08:45)
We were advised that the plane would more than likely return to LA. We overheard a steward say that there were no spare planes at LA. One hour later, the Pilot advised us that it was safe to continue to London. This was after we circled over LA for 1.5 hours. It was terrifying.
Dr Sergio Gonzalez, UK (23/02/2005 at 11:40)
It is not true that the Captain of the plane realised that it had a problem with the engine an hour later.
The power surge happened at take off, while the plane was gaining altitude. In fact, we flew in circles around Los Angeles coast for around 40 min. before carrying on all the way to the UK. Reportedly, during this time, the captain was waiting for instructions from BA engineers in London about whether to continue on course or make an emergency landing at LA airport. An emergency landing would have required fuel dumping on the sea.
Although from the economic point of view a very profitable decision was made by BA, allowing the plane to fly on 3 engines for over 10 hours across the north atlantic sea, it was a general view of the passengers, that this decision was very irresponsible. For the sake of peace of mind of the 351 passengers, the plane should have landed in LA aiport for a technical evaluation of the engine.
Although I had always believed in BA safety standards, I am truly dissapointed to realise that BA on this occassion put money before their customers safety.