The terror on Flight 220
2006-01-06 23:43
Waldimar Pelser
Johannesburg - When one engine of flight SA 220's Boeing barked like a dog and then spat fire, panicky adults cried like children during the take-off and some passengers "morbidly called on the assistance of their Creator".
But South African Airways says the panic on Thursday evening on a flight from Cape Town to London was totally unnecessary.
Hundreds of passengers who left Cape Town at 22:03 were stranded in Johannesburg until Friday after a bearing in one of the four engines of the Boeing 747 apparently packed up during take-off from the Peninsula.
SAA operational chief captain Colin Jordaan said on Friday this caused the airflow through the engine to be disrupted and forced the ignition process to the outside, resulting in a flame coming from the engine.
While this sort of thing would be virtually invisible in daytime, and could even be caused by a bird being sucked into an engine, it could be "spectacular" at night - and, it was.
Started wetting down the plane's interior
Inigo Gilmore, a passenger, told 702 radio station "total panic reigned".
"We could clearly see how flames spewed from one of the engines.
"Absolute pandemonium broke out in the rear of the aircraft," said Gilmore.
"Children started screaming when shouts of ?fire, fire? were heard, and when this spread to the rest of the plane people really started panicking."
According to Jordaan, some passengers even started wetting the inside of the cabin with water on the side near the fire-spitting engine, hoping to cool it.
"Of course, something like this is not an enjoyable experience at all," he said
The jet was in the air for about 30 seconds and at a height of about 250m when the captain switched off the engine and continued climbing on the remaining three engines.
SAA's technical division recommended that the captain continue with the flight to Johannesburg.
According to Jordaan, the captain would have had to jettison about 100 tons of fuel before he could land at Cape Town again and, in addition, a spare engine for the Boeing was available only in Johannesburg.
This type of aircraft carries about 145 tons of fuel on a flight from Cape Town to London.
'Men make peace with their wives'
Captain Piet Taljaard, chairman of the SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa) told Die Burger that he had already heard an engine bark and say "woof-woof", and then spew out flames.
However, on a four-engined jet, such as the 747-400 - which has been designed to fly on three engines only - this presented "no danger at all".
"You might be sitting next to a window and see a flame.
"People then immediately call on the Lord and men make peace with their wives.
"This has happened so many times in the past, and it will happen again."
According to Jordaan, the engine bearings are checked weekly.
Although the engine in question had seen many hours of service, there was no "early-warning sign of any danger".
- Beeld