Sorry if it's far too general a question, but what is the most common cause of a surge?
I've actually got a movie file from my digital camera (not a photo as previously stated) of this a/c taking off, unfortunately I stopped filming about 10 seconds before the flames started appearing! Damn it.
I noticed there was a real whirlwind of dust came across the runway when the a/c was rotating. I don't know if this was caused by the a/c or whether it was a little 'dust devil' type thing. Could ingestion of some crap and rough air cause an issue?
Phil
The dust whirlwind is probably just the typical wing vortex effect during takeoff. At takeoff speeds cross winds etc. are pretty much impervious to engines. Same with rough air at high power conditions at low altitudes.
Surge has many causes, most of them are damage related inside the engine. many are temporary in nature and quickly recovered by the pilot retarding and readvancing the throttle.
Some of the temporary ones are caused by the passage of bird guts through the compressor, while others are caused by tired engines working at very hard conditions (time to get them off and into overhaul)