[International] British Airways B744 enroute on Jul 30th 2010, engine shut down in flight

British Airways Boeing 747-400, registration G-CIVM performing flight BA-26 (dep Jul 29th) from Hong Kong (China) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was enroute about 7 hours into the flight, when the crew decided to shut an engine (RB211) down. The aircraft continued in the general direction of London leaving Russian Airspace at FL300 and step climbing to FL320 over Estonia, but then diverted to Copenhagen (Denmark) about 4 hours after the engine was shut down. The airplane landed safely on Copenhagen's runway 22L at 04:45L (02:45Z).

The incident airplane remained on the ground in Copenhagen for about 33 hours before the airplane was ferried to London Heathrow as flight BA-9173. The airplane has not yet returned to service (Aug 3rd).

British Airways told The Aviation Herald: "As a precautionary measure the flight crew shut down one of the four engines, due to a technical issue. There was no risk to the safety of our customers or aircraft at any time. A B747 can operate safely on three engines and our flight crew are trained to deal with this eventuality. However, the procedure does increase fuel consumption, so the decision was made to divert the aircraft into Copenhagen."

British Airways also mentioned (without specifying the cause of this shut down), that the cause of this inflight shutdown was different to the shutdown aboard another Boeing 747-400, registration G-BNLG performing flight BA-268 departing Los Angeles,CA (USA) on Feb 19th 2005 and scheduled to reach London Heathrow,EN (UK) on Feb 20th 2005, when engine #2 (RB211) surged shortly after departure from Los Angeles, the crew continued across the United States of America and the Atlantic but then had to divert to Manchester,EN (UK) with the crew declaring emergency because of the possibility to land below required final fuel reserve.

That flight continuation had sparked substantial controversy amongst aviation professionals, but was not disapproved by the United Kingdom's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) in their final report. The report however stated, that the windmilling of the engine without engine oil supply over an extended period of time increased the damage to the engine and thus posed the danger the engine could seize. The AAIB therefore recommended that the FAA and other regulators "should review the policy on flight continuation for public transport aircraft operations, following an in-flight shutdown of an engine, in order to provide clear guidance to the operators."

Fonte: Aviation Herald

Esperemos pelos relatórios, mas é curioso que não seja a primeira vez que acontece na BA.

Apesar da aviação de hoje ser muito segura, ainda bem que tudo acabou bem.

José Alberto escreveu:Esperemos pelos relatórios, mas é curioso que não seja a primeira vez que acontece na BA.

Apesar da aviação de hoje ser muito segura, ainda bem que tudo acabou bem.

E nós nem nos passa metade pelas mãos.
Todos os dias existem imensos incidentes por todo o lado do mundo. Quando tudo se resolve sem se tornar acidente estamos bem.