Virgin has disclosed the “possible cause” for the emergency landing that was performed on a flight to Melbourne due to the observation of flames emanating from one of its engines.
Shortly after takeoff, one of the engines on a Virgin Australia aircraft caught fire, leading to an emergency landing in New Zealand due to a possible bird strike.
The flight from Queenstown to Melbourne departed on Monday night, and subsequently footage that seemed to show fire emanating from the Boeing 737-800 surfaced.
According to flight monitoring services, the aircraft left Queenstown and proceeded south right away, instead of the planned westward direction to Melbourne.
It flew over the South Island in a holding pattern and landed at the airfield at Invercargill, some 150km south of Queenstown.
There were six crew members and 67 passengers on board the Boeing 737-800. About fifty minutes after departing Queenstown, it successfully touched down, and fire engines greeted it on the tarmac.
Stuart Aggs, chief operating officer of Virgin Australia, stated, “At this time, we are not aware of any physical injuries to guests or crew.”
According to the New Zealand Herald, passengers claimed to have heard loud booms and seen flames emerging from one of the engines.
According to Michael Hayward, as the plane took off at six o’clock local time, it was pitch-black outside.
“You hear the loudest ‘bang’ within 10 seconds of taking off, golden lights filling the cabin, and a burst of flames off the right-hand engine,” he said on ABC radio.
There were a few cries in the cabin as people realized something had gone wrong, and Hayward said that he and the other passengers were feeling rather nervous.
He reported, “I could see flames shooting out of [the engine] at regular intervals,” and the captain subsequently told the passengers that the aircraft had collided with a flock of birds.
“At first, people were worried, but soon they realized everything was under control; just sit back, relax, and whatever happens will happen.”
Glen Sowry, the CEO of Queenstown Airport, stated on Tuesday that a bird became stuck in the engine “You hear the loudest ‘bang’ within 10 seconds of taking off, golden lights filling the cabin, and a burst of flames off the right-hand engine,” he said on ABC radio.
There were a few cries in the cabin as people realized something had gone wrong, and Hayward said that he and the other passengers were feeling rather nervous.
He reported, “I could see flames shooting out of [the engine] at regular intervals,” and the captain subsequently told the passengers that the aircraft had collided with a flock of birds.
“At first, people were worried, but soon they realized everything was under control; just sit back, relax, and whatever happens will happen.”
Glen Sowry, the CEO of Queenstown Airport, stated on Tuesday that a bird became stuck in the engine.
“At this point, we think it was probably a bird strike, but we won’t be able to confirm that for sure until the engine has been inspected by engineers in Invercargill,” Sowry told RNZ.
The CEO stated that while bird strikes were a known risk, they happened rarely. Regular risk-management practices implemented by the airport included shortening the grass and preventing standing water from being present.
“Depending on where in the engine it travels, a larger bird that gets ingested into an engine, which looks like what may have happened on this occasion, can damage critical parts.”
Two minutes prior to takeoff, the runway was surveyed, and Sowry stated that no bird activity had been seen.
One engine is all that is needed to operate and land an aircraft.
According to Sowry, the Virgin Australia flight most likely avoided the surrounding mountains by using a prearranged safe route that was intended for situations in which an engine failed.
The airplane “experienced an issue just after takeoff,” according to a statement from Queenstown airport, and it was redirected to Invercargill.
After spending the night in lodging in Invercargill, the passengers were driven back to Queenstown airport, where on Tuesday they were scheduled to be assigned to other planes to Australia.
According to the aviation regulator of New Zealand, on its website, there are around four bird strikes for every 10,000 aircraft operations at its airports.
