British Airways aircraft engine catches fire

Passengers and crew of a British Airways flight from Las Vegas to London have had a miraculous escape after the engine of their Boeing 777 suffered a catastrophic failure and resulting fire just as the jet was increasing speed for the take-off.

The pilots successfully stopped the jet and all the 159 passengers and 13 crew escaped with only minor injuries to seven passengers.

Flight BA2276 on route to Gatwick, England, had started its take-off roll on Las Vegas Airport’s Runway 7L when its left engine – a GE90 – suffered an extremely rare uncontained failure where turbine parts traveling at up to 10,000rpm tear away and exit the engine.

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This failure is similar to that which crippled Qantas flight QF32 after it took off from Singapore on November 8, 2010.

Guardian sports reporter Jacob Steinberg who was on the plane said there was panic on board as passengers struggled to take their carry-on baggage with them, when the call to evacuate was made.

“Was asleep as the plane took off. Came to a crashing halt. Smell of smoke. Initially told to stay seated, then shout of evacuate,” Mr Steinberg tweeted.
“Could smell and see smoke but was on other side of plane. One person said fire melted a couple of windows.”

“They opened the back door and slide went down and smoke started coming in plane, followed by mad dash to front. A lot of panic,” Mr Steinberg tweeted.

Just 17 seconds after the aircraft started its take-off roll one of the British Airways pilots contacted air traffic control and said: “Speedbird 2276 heavy stopping” (Speedbird is the ATC code for British Airways and “heavy” designates an aircraft with significant wake turbulence).

Then 15 seconds later came the call “Speedbird Mayday Mayday. Speedbird 2276 request fire services.”

The air traffic controller responds: “Speedbird 2276, heavy fire services on the way.”

Passengers were taken to local a hotel and are expected to be flown to London today.

The fire has done extensive damage to the 777 and it is expected to be a write-off as the critical wing box has been damaged.