Within minutes of taking off from Toronto Pearson International Airport on Friday, an Air Canada flight bound for Paris with 389 passengers and 13 crew caught fire.
The flight crew immediately declared ‘PAN-PAN,’ the standard distress signal internationally, signaling ‘Possible Assistance Needed’, and averted a possible catastrophe as they returned the aircraft to the airport without any injuries or casualties.
On Friday, the Boeing 777 wide-body aircraft commenced departure at 12:17 am (Toronto time). Shortly after take-off, at 12:39 am (Toronto time), while the flight was still ascending over the runway, the air traffic controller (ATC) spotted the first blast of sparks from the plane’s right engine and promptly alerted the crew. People on the ground captured the backfiring engine on camera.
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Superb work by the pilots and their air traffic controllers, dealing with a backfiring engine on takeoff. Heavy plane full of fuel, low cloud thunderstorms, repeated compressor stalls. Calm, competent, professional – well done!
Details: https://t.co/VaJeEdpzcn @AirCanada pic.twitter.com/7aOHyFsR29— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) June 7, 2024
The incident contributes to the long list of mishaps reported on Boeing’s aircraft over the past several months.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield shared a video of the aircraft flying with an engine on fire and praised the pilots and their air traffic controllers for their superb work in dealing with a backfiring engine on takeoff. The heavy plane was full of fuel and faced low cloud thunderstorms, along with repeated compressor stalls. Hadfield commended their calm, competent, and professional handling of the situation, saying ‘Well done!’
He also shared a reconstruction video of the events that followed, along with a recording of the pilot’s communication with ATC. According to the video, Air Canada pilots were alerted about smoke and fire when the flight was 1,000 feet above the ground. The flight path depicted in the video showed the aircraft continuing its ascent before maintaining a steady cruise at 3,000 feet. The pilots then skillfully turned the aircraft around and returned to Toronto amidst lightning and showers, with scattered clouds at 2,800 feet.
The distressed aircraft was cleared by the ATC to land on Runway 23, with fire vehicles standing by for assistance.
The video, posted on YouTube by ‘You can see ATC’, stated that the aircraft continued taxiing within four minutes of landing.
Update on flight AC872 from June 5: pic.twitter.com/lkruMaM7KH
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) June 7, 2024
In a statement released on X, Air Canada stated that a stalled compressor caused the fire. The aircraft landed normally, and first responder vehicles met it as a precaution before it taxied to the gate on its own.
The airline noted that they accommodated passengers on another aircraft later that same evening.
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