British Airways’ procedures were under the spotlight last night after an accident report revealed that doors on both engines of the BA plane in last week’s Heathrow emergency landing drama had been left unlatched during maintenance.
Airbus said there had been 32 reported fan cowl door detachment events
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the interim report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) contained “serious findings”.
He added that the aviation industry must act immediately to take the appropriate safety action and ensure that all lessons are learnt from what had happened.
Mr McLoughlin went on: “Airline passengers have the right to expect to travel safely and it is the responsibility of all involved in aviation to make sure that happens.”
Last week’s Heathrow drama had seen an Oslo-bound BA Airbus A319 returning to the west London airport with smoke billowing from one of its engines.
Yesterday’s AAIB report said the unlatching of the fan cowl doors had not been identified before the plane took off with 75 passengers and five crew on May 24.
The fan cowl doors from both engines detached as the aircraft left the runway at Heathrow, puncturing a fuel pipe on the right engine, the report said.
The detaching also punctured the airframe and some aircraft systems and the flight crew, led by the 50-year-old captain, elected to return to Heathrow. On the approach to land, an external fire developed on the right engine, with the left engine continuing to perform normally throughout the flight.
The report added that the right engine was shut down and the aircraft landed safely. Emergency services quickly attended and extinguished the fire. Passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft via the escape slides, without injury.
The report said: “Subsequent investigation revealed that the fan cowl doors on both engines were left unlatched during maintenance and this was not identified prior to aircraft departure.”
The AAIB said it had been provided with photographs of the aircraft taken prior to its pushing back from the stand before take-off. These showed the fan cowl doors unlatched on both engines. The report said the aircraft had undergone scheduled maintenance overnight. This required opening the fan cowl doors on both engines to check oil levels.