Washington [US], December 14: The plane, carrying 290 people, had to jettison fuel and make an emergency landing after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff and stopped abruptly in mid-air.
AFP reported on December 14th that a United Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Dulles Airport (Washington, USA) to Haneda Airport (Tokyo, Japan) had to turn back after one of its engines suddenly stopped in mid-air.
The incident occurred on December 13th (US time), and no one was injured among the 275 passengers and 15 crew members on board the wide-body aircraft. The plane had to dump fuel before landing.
"Shortly after takeoff, flight 803 returned to Dulles and landed safely to address a power failure in one of its engines," the airline said.
United Airlines then arranged for the passengers to be transferred to another flight to Haneda Airport, departing later that same day.
According to informed sources, the engine malfunctioned when the 777-200ER took off at approximately 12:20 PM on December 13th (0:20 AM on December 14th in Vietnam).
"United Airlines Flight 803 caused a bushfire around the runway during takeoff. The fire was extinguished and the flight returned, landing safely at approximately 1:30 p.m., after being inspected by airport firefighters," an airport spokesperson said.
The affected runway had to be closed for a short time, but Dulles Airport has multiple runways and other flight operations were not affected.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the plane had to return to Dulles Airport after experiencing engine trouble during takeoff, and the agency will investigate the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is gathering information about the incident.
In response to a request for comment, Boeing suggested that United Airlines be contacted.
According to reports cited by AirLive , one of the aircraft's engines caught fire during takeoff, causing flames along the edge of the runway.
According to registration information provided on the website, the Boeing 777 involved in the incident on December 13th was delivered to Continental Airlines in November 1998, which was later merged with United Airlines . The aircraft was equipped with two General Electric engines, now known as GE Aerospace.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
