Dear Captain Lim,
I read from the Hong Kong Newspaper about Dragonair KA991's engine failure accident when the plane was heading towards HK from Beijing.
Can you tell me how the pilots handle such an emergency? From the photo, I saw one of the engine blade broken (near the engine casing) which damaged the adjoining blades and the engine cowling.
How often this kind of situation happens in the aviation industry. KA991 is Airbus A330 with the age of just 2.3 year!
Many thanks,
Danny Chau
Hi Danny,
As I have mentioned many times in the past, pilots are checked every six months on how to handle an engine failure or fire in the air. So when an actual emergency arises, it becomes almost like a routine exercise.
Although airplane engines are very reliable, it cannot be denied that mechanical faults do arise. That is why the airline industry put a lot of emphasis on stringent training (see second video below) and frequent checks on the pilots' skill in handling all kinds of emergencies.
In the case of the Dragonair Airbus A330 incident on 31.3.08, the landing on one engine was not a problem even though it had suffered a severe damage on the left engine caused by the turbine fan blade as you can see from the video below.
Dragonair Airbus A330 Incident at Beijing
Typical training on handling engine failure with severe damage
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