A United Airlines flight 803 bound for Tokyo returned to Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Saturday (Dec 13) after one of its engines failed during takeoff. The incident also triggered a brush fire near the runway, the officials said. No injuries were reported, and all the 275 passengers and 15 crew members aboard the Boeing 777 plane were evacuated safely following an emergency landing. Videos of the incident are being widely circulated on social media.
“Shortly after takeoff, United Flight 803 returned to Washington Dulles and landed safely to address a power loss issue with one of its engines,” the airline said in a statement.
AFP reported that the engine failed when the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport around 12:20 pm on Saturday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that a piece of engine cover “separated and caught fire, sparking a brush fire on the ground.”
An airport spokesperson said that the fire was extinguished and the flight returned to Dulles, making a safe landing at about 1:30 pm. The airport fire responders checked the plane. While the affected runway was temporarily closed, the official added that other flight operations were not impacted due to the incident, as Dulles has multiple runways.
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The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that an investigation will be launched into the incident. Meanwhile, aircraft manufacturer Boeing referred questions to United Airlines.
AirLive reported that the plane had to dump its fuel over the city of Fredericksburg in Virginia as part of a “critical safety procedure used to reduce the plane’s weight to a safe level before attempting an emergency landing.”
The report added that the 777 involved in the incident was delivered in November 1998 to Continental Airlines, which was later taken over by United Airlines. The plane is equipped with two General Electric engines, now known as GE Aerospace.
An alternate flight for the passengers was arranged by the airline later the same day, six and a half hours after its original departure time, bound for Haneda.
AloJapan.com