Toronto: A Paris-bound Air Canada flight was seen emitting fire from it’s engine minutes after taking off from the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The flight was carrying 389 passengers and 13 crew.
According to reports, the crew immediately declared Possible Assistance Needed (PAN-PAN) following the incident. Following this, the flight immediately returned to the airport. No injuries or casualties were reported in the incident. Meanwhile, the video of the incident is going viral over the internet.
As per the video, while taking off, the air traffic controller (ATC) spotted the first blast of sparks from the plane’s right engine and promptly alerted the crew.
Addressing the issue, the Air Canada took to its official X (formerly Twitter) handle and said, “Flight AC872 from Toronto to Paris on June 5 returned to Toronto shortly after departure due to an engine issue that was determined to be a compressor stall. The aircraft landed normally, and it was met by first responder vehicles as a precaution before it taxied to the gate on its own. Passengers were accommodated on another aircraft later that same evening. There were 389 passengers and 13 crew onboard the Boeing 777 aircraft.”
“Video posted to the internet of the incident shows the engine at the point of compressor stall, which can happen with a turbine engine when its aerodynamics are affected. This can be caused by various factors, but the result is the flow of air through the engine is disrupted causing fuel to ignite further down the engine, which is why flames are visible in the video. It is not the engine itself on fire. Our pilots are highly skilled professionals well trained to safely manage such incidents and in this case the situation was quickly stabilized as per our standard procedures and the aircraft landed normally,” the official statement further read.
Following the incident, the passengers were accommodated on another aircraft.
