A Titan Airways jet made an emergency landing at Gatwick when one of its engines caught fire and the other stalled after fuel was contaminated by a mechanic, a report has revealed.
Investigators found disaster may only have been averted near the Sussex airport as it was flying light with no passengers and just seven crew, in quiet airspace and in clear conditions on February 26 last year.
The report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that an engineer had added 38 times too much biocide, an anti-bacterial chemical, to fuel tanks before the flight because he did not understand that ppm meant parts per million .
Plane engine burst into flames after engineer incorrectly refuelled aircraft
The 52-year-old engineer had added nearly 38 times too much anti bacterial chemical into the Airbus A321-211 fuel investigators found
Titan Airways Airbus A321, GPOWU, departing from Manchester Airport
Credit: Alamy
A plane was forced to make an emergency landing when its engine burst into flames after an engineer incorrectly refuelled the aircraft, a report found.
The maintenance worker who didn t speak English as his first language had added nearly 38 times too much anti bacterial chemical into the Airbus A321-211 fuel on 23 February 2020, investigators found.
Three days later, the airliner was forced to make an emergency landing after one engine caught fire and the other stalled resulting in it almost crashing near Gatwick airport.
Piper M-class six-seat experimental aircraft was to conclude testing in a few weeks.
The Piper M-class demonstrator had been based at the Cranfield airport since 2020âshown here from September 2020 preparing for its first flight in the UK.
ZeroAvia
ZeroAviaâs Piper M-class demonstratorâdeveloped to test flight on hydrogen powerâsuffered an off-airport landing on April 29, 2021, just outside of the perimeter of the Cranfield airport in the UK. The aircraft was conducting a routine flight within the latter stages of its six-seat HyFlyer testing regimeâwhich was expected to conclude in the next few weeksârecorded as ZeroAvia Test 86, the sixth test flight within the current segment of the program, according to a statement by the company. âThe aircraft landed normally on its wheels in a flat grass field and almost came to a stop, but was damaged as it caught the left main gear and wing in the uneven terrain at the end of the field at low speed. Every
ZeroAvia HyFlyer makes forced landing in field
3rd May 2021 13:53 Europe/London
ZeroAvia’s hydrogen fuel cell powered Piper Malibus test aircraft made a forced landing just outside Cranfield Airport during a routine test flight on 29 April.
The Cranfield-based company said, “The aircraft landed normally on its wheels in a flat grass field and almost came to a stop, but was damaged as it caught the left main gear and wing in the uneven terrain at the end of the field at low speed.
“Everybody involved is safe, and without injury. The incident was immediately reported to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), and the Fire Service attended on the ground, as is the standard procedure.”
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