A Boeing 747-237B was operating a scheduled flight between London (United Kingdom) to New Delhi (India). Onboard the 18 year old aircraft was a crew of 20 and 195 passengers. After an uneventful flight, the aircraft flew a normal approach and touched down on the runway of New Delhi-Indira Gandhi Airport.
The damaged left-wing o the aircraft (Source www.baaa-acro.com © Unknown)
As per company procedure selected reverser thrust on the four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7J engines. With the engines in reverse, the pylon holding engine #1 failed, causing the engine to partly detach. this caused a fuel line to rupture.
The fuel spilling from the ruptured fuel line ignited causing a huge fire in the area around engine #1. The aircraft was brought to a stop, approximately 3 kilometers (just short of 2 miles) from touchdown and an emergency evacuation was initiated. All occupants managed to safely evacuate the area, and no injuries were reported.
An investigation was launched into the incident, and it was determined that the aft fuse pin of the diagonal brace fitting was not installed correctly. This reduced the load-carrying capacity of the engine mounting. When reverse was selected the upper-link forward fuse pin in the engine mounts failed. This failure was probably caused by an improper landing which overloaded the engine mount. Damage to the aircraft was so severe it was declared "Damaged Beyond Repair".
The aircraft in better days (Source: aviation-Safety.net © Werner Fischdick)
Editorial note, V2 Aviation Training & Maintenance wrote this blog using open source data. We have been unable to find an official report relating to this incident. If inconsistencies are noticed in this blog don't hesitate tp contact V2 Aviation via the comments section at the bottom of this page, or via the contact page of this website
Comments