Aircraft engine catches fire after landing in Mumbai

MUMBAI: An engine of a Jet Airways flight with 158 passengers on board caught fire after landing at Mumbai airport early on Monday. While the flames were doused minutes after being detected and all the flyers were deplaned safely, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) categorized it as a “serious incident”.

According to officials, preliminary reports suggested that fuel leakage could have caused the fire. “Usually, leakage in one of the fuel pipes triggers a fire in the engine. The situation can become risky if the aircraft is mid-air,” a source said.

The flight from Riyadh, 9W 523, landed at 5.45am. According to airport officials, the Boeing 737-800 vacated the main runway and was taxiing on taxiway N, which runs parallel to the runway. The plane was moving towards its parking bay when an airport official, who was travelling in a “follow-me” jeep, spotted smoke emanating from the left engine of the aircraft. “A follow-me jeep usually accompanies an aircraft when it moves towards the parking bay. On spotting the fire, the official informed ATC (air traffic control) about it and ATC immediately brought it to the pilot’s notice,” an airport official said. “The pilot quickly switched off the engines. Meanwhile, a fire engine was summoned and it doused the flames in two minutes,” he added. The fire was put out at 5.50am.

The process of towing the aircraft to the hangar took around 35 minutes. “The passengers remained on board throughout. As the fire was detected on time and put out, there was no panic. Many did not even get to know that there was a fire alert,” an official said. All the passengers were deplaned by 6.30am.

The aircraft was then handed over to the airline safety and engineering staff to conduct checks. E K Bharat Bhushan, director general (DGCA), said orders have been issued for a detailed probe into the incident. “We have categorized it as a serious incident and officials will prepare a report on it,” Bhushan added.

Experts said the situation did not go out of hand as an alert official spotted the fire on time. Also, the situation was manageable as the aircraft was on the ground. “All aircraft have an in-built fire alert system. The cockpit has a fire warning light and an alarm, which shows which engine has caught fire. The pilot can immediately pull the plug and stop fuel supply to the engine,” a senior commander said. “The fire was spotted even before the alert could go off,” he added.

Confirming the incident, a Jet Airways spokesperson said, “While taxiing, the flight crew was alerted by the ATC of the slight presence of smoke in one of the engines. The cockpit crew then proceeded to bring the aircraft to the assigned bay safely. In keeping with standard operating procedure, one engine was shut down and the guests were safely deplaned.”

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