In October 2002 I was involved in an emergency landing at Manchester on board a plane bound for Heraklion in Crete. It was flight BD8423 with BMI. We had just taken off from Manchester and about 40 seconds into ascent there was a loud bang (explosion like) followed by 3 more smaller bangs, and then flames from the engine were visible down the outside of the plane. The Captain gave some instructions to the cabin crew and shut down the affected engine which caused the aircraft to sway from side to side for a few seconds but it seemed like an age. Everyone was incredibly calm and silent.
I was travelling with my husband and 2 small children (1 a baby on my knee). Only when the plane stabilised and was flying on one engine did the captain address the passengers and thanked us for remaining calm, and said we would return to Manchester to make an emergency landing, but because of the nature of the fault we had to dump fuel before landing. We flew up and down the Pennines at low level, and about 30 minutes later we landed on the outer most runway at Manchester which I understand is reserved for emergencies. There were sandpits on either side of it, and as we were coming in we could see lots of emergency vehicles, we then exited the plane whilst fire crews sprayed it with foam.
Since that incident I have flown many times (reluctantly) and am a nervous pax particularly at takeoff and landing, but really want to overcome this fear, and feel that if I understand what happened it might make it easier. I appreciate it is a long time ago but wondered if anyone can offer an explanation. all reports refer to it as "unspecified Fault" but there most have been some reason it happened.
Below are some links and other information about the incident.
Yours hopefully!
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BBC NEWS | England | Plane makes emergency landing[/
DATE: 22.10.2002
LOCAL TIME: 07:40
LOCATION: Manchester-Ringway Intīl AP / England
COUNTRY: UK
AIRLINE: BMI British Midland
FLIGHT No.: BD 8423
FROM: Manchester
TO: Heraklion
OCCUPANTS
PAX: 138
CREW: x
FATALITIES
PAX: 0
CREW: 0
OTHER: 0
INJURIES:
PAX: 0
CREW: 0
OTHER: 2
DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT: minor
About 30 minutes after departure the aircraft made a safe return to MAN following a pilot report of unspecified technical problems,