A British Airways 747 flew from Los Angeles to Britain despite having to shut down one engine which failed and belched flame shortly after takeoff, a published report said Monday.
The Feb. 20, 2005 incident was previously analyzed in detail by Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which found no fault with the crew's decision to fly on but recommended that British Airways crews receive further training in managing fuel while flying with three engines.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday published details of the conversation between air traffic controllers in Los Angeles and the flight crew. The transcript was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Shortly after the flight took off with 352 passengers and a crew of 18, the crew reported hearing banging sound, and traffic controllers and passengers reported seeing flames. After completing checks, the crew shut down the No. 2 engine, and consulted with British Airways officials.
According to tapes of communications obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the captain radioed to air traffic control: "We just decided we want to set off on our flight-plan route and get as far as we can."
The tower controller commented to a colleague: "If you would have saw what we saw out the window, you'd be amazed at that."
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch, in its report published earlier this year, did not fault the decision to continue flying. It noted that since 2001, British Airways had recorded 15 incidents in which a 747 had continued flying after an engine had been shut down.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had proposed fining British Airways US$25,000 for flying an aircraft which wasn't airworthy, but dropped the proposed enforcement action last month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
When the flight reached the east coast of the United States there were no further abnormalities and the crew decided to carry on across the Atlantic. However, nearing London the crew became concerned about the amount of fuel remaining and elected to make an emergency landing at Manchester in central England.
Investigators subsequently determined that the aircraft had sufficient fuel to have landed as scheduled in London.
"A better understanding of the fuel system should have reassured the crew that fuel should have been available to all engines even with one tank empty," the British report said.
"Nevertheless, the awareness of the apparent problem came at a time when the crew had made the decision to divert, had started the descent to Manchester and was therefore busy."
It recommended that British Airways include instruction on three-engined fuel handling during initial and recurrent training.
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