Event Details


Title:Uncontained engine failure, Boeing 737-236 series 1, G-BGJL
Micro summary:Following an uncontained engine failure, a catastrophic fire emerged during evacuation.
Event Time:1985-08-22 at 0613 UTC
File Name:1985-08-22-UK.pdf
Publishing Agency:Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB)
Publishing Country:United Kingdom
Report number:8/88
Pages:136
Site of event:Takeoff, Manchester
Latitude/Longitude:53°21'N 002°16'W
Departure:Manchester International Airport, Manchester, England
Destination:Corfu International Airport, "Ioannis Kapodistrias", Corfu, Greece
Airplane Type(s):Boeing 737-236
Flight Phase:Takeoff
Registration(s):G-BGJL
Operator(s):British Airtours
Type of flight:Revenue
Occupants:137
Fatalities:55
Serious Injuries:15
Minor/Non-Injured:67
Other Injuries:1
Executive Summary:At 0612 hrs G-BGJL, carrying 131 passengers and 6 crew on a charter flight to Corfu, began its take-off from runway 24 at Manchester with the co-pilot handling. About thirty six seconds later, as the airspeed passed 125 knots, the left engine suffered an uncontained failure, which punctured a wing fuel tank access panel. Fuel leaking from the wing ignited and burnt as a large plume of fire trailingdirectly behind the engine. The crew heard a 'thud', and believing that they had suffered a tyre-burst or bird-strike, abandoned the take-off immediately, intending to clear the runway to the right. They had no indication of fire until 9 seconds later, whenthe left engine fire warning occurred. After an exchange with Air Traffic Control, during which the fire was confirmed, the commander warned his crew of an evacuation from the right side of the aircraft, by making a broadcast over the cabin address system, and brought the aircraft to a halt in the entrance to link Delta.

As the aircraft turned off, a wind of 7 knots from 250° carried the fire onto and around the rear fuselage. After the aircraft stopped the hull was penetrated rapidly and smoke, possibly with some flame transients, entered the cabin through the aft rightdoor which was opened shortly before the aircraft came to a halt. Subsequently fire developed within the cabin. Despite the prompt attendance of the airport fire service, the aircraft was destroyed and 55 persons on board lost their lives. The cause of the accident was an uncontained failure of the left engine, intitiated by a failure of the No 9 combustor can which had been the subject of a repair. A section of the combustor can, which was ejected forcibly from the engine, struck and fractured an underwing fuel tank access panel. The fire which resulted developed catastrophically, primarily because of adverse orientation of the parked aircraft relative to the wind, even though the wind was light.
Learning Keywords:Operations - Deadstick/Power Loss
Operations - Evacuation
Operations - Maintenance
Systems - Engine - Uncontained Engine Failure
Other - Post-Crash Survivability
Consequence - Hull Loss
Close match:All Engines-out Landing Due to Fuel Exhaustion, Air Transat, Airbus A330-243 marks C-GITS, Lajes, Azores, Portugal, 24 August 2001
Multiple system failures, Airbus A340-642, G-VATL
Apparent fuel leak, Boeing 777-236, G-YMME
Engine fire, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, N68065
In-flight loss of both engines, McDonnell Douglas MD-82, June 4, 2002
Fuel exhaustion, Executive Airlines, British Aerospace J-3101, N16EJ, Bear Creek Township, Pennsylvania, May 21, 2000
Fuel exhaustion, Overseas National Airways, Inc., Douglas DC-9, N935F, Operating As Antilliaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij Flight 980, Near St. Croix, Virgin Islands, May 2, 1970
Crash following engine failure, Southern Airways, Inc., DC-9-31, N1335U, New Hope, Georgia, April 4, 1977
Fuel exhaustion, Avianca, The Airline Of Columbia, Boeing 707-321 B, HK 2016, Fuel Exhaustion, Cove Neck, New York, January 25, 1990
Fuel starvation, United Airlines, Inc., McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, N8082U, Portland, Oregon, December 28, 1978
Power loss in thunderstorm, Air Wisconsin, Swearingen SA-226 Metro, N650S, Valley, Nebraska, June 12, 1980
Engine fire, Airbus Industrie A300, July 9, 1998
Bird ingestion into both engines, Douglas DC-9-15F, March 4, 1999
Uncontained engine failure and fuel tank puncture, Boeing 747-130, August 14, 1995
Overspeed And Loss Of Power On Both Engines During Descent And Power-Off Emergency Landing, Simmons Airlines, Inc., D/B/A American Eagle Flight 3641, N349SB False River Air Park, New Roads, Louisiana, February 1, 1994
Foreign object ingestion and dual power loss, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-87, March 14, 1997
Dual engine failure and loss of directional control, Douglas DC-9-32, Windsor Locks, December 19, 1995
Ethiopian Airlines B767 (ET-AIZ) Aircraft Accident In the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, in the Indian Ocean on November 23, 1996
Uncontrolled collision with terrain, Flagship Airlines, Inc., dba American Eagle Flight 3379, BAe Jetstream 3201, N918AE, Morrisville, North Carolina, December 13, 1994
Engine fire, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, G-NIUK, May 11, 1997

 




Accident Reports on DVD, Copyright © 2006 by Flight Simulation Systems, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
 All referenced trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
www.fss.aero