XL / Atlanta / Travel City Engine Failure at Sanford, Orlando

[Dom Joly]

Had a quick look on Prune but can't see any previous postings relating to this recent incident. Anyone any further details of the above scenario, which occurred on their 747 fleet out of Sanford earlier this week?

Current passengers running 24hrs late, although I believe that this was greater nearer the time of the incident, as they've now managed to charter in a replacement 747.

TravelCity staff said that one of the engines caught fire after take-off, whereas a Sanford ground staff just said that the engine failed. So somewhere between the lines, I'd say at least an engine shutdown with possibly an overweight landing/fuel dump.

[Two's in]

Only just made the local rag, and actually avoided the usual "Orphans escape in Nuclear Plant near-miss by Airline stunt pilot" hyperbole for once. Clip and link below (incliduding pic of fuel dumping)

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/5/10/international_flight_makes_emergency_landing.html

There were some tense moments in the skies over Central Florida Thursday night.

A 747 was forced to make an emergency landing shortly after take off from the Orlando Sanford International Airport because it lost an engine.

The plane circled over Lake County and dumped its fuel. The plane landed without incident, and nobody was hurt.

The plane was a Travel City charter flight headed to Gatwick Airport in London, England.

The charter company said it planned to put the passengers on a new flight Friday.

[Ganbare]

I can remember doing a post-flight walk around after arriving in an Excell (Air Atlanta) 767 down in Tobago. I found a 5-6mm crack in one of the fan blades. I showed it to the mechanic fully expecting him to ground the plane till he could file the crack out or have the blade replaced - worst case. He looks at me and says, "Yeah, we've known about that one" :eek:
Either he was (A) just pulling my chain, (B) lying to me to get me to go away, or (C) totally clueless. Any which you cut it the MX at AAI is scary. Doesn't surprise me a bit they had an engine failure.

[MaxBlow]

A 747 lost an engine, dumps fuel and lands safely again at it's dept. airport.
Big xyz.ing deal ! Another airline just recently proved that it flies well on three...even across the Atlantic!

There's so much more about AAI that's worth to make some good headlines
(not only operational but on the whole management side) :yuk:

[Beausoleil]

Am I the only lurker thinking this way?

There have been a couple of threads about this Air Atlanta outfit. From what I gather, they tend to fly planes for other airlines.

I'm curious, would you as pilots let your families fly with this company? And, given that they seem to be flying routes for other airlines, how would you set about avoiding them if you wouldn't?

[Plane Dumb]

The 74s are operated using XL crews, all experienced professional guys.
Give them a break, they're doing the best with the kit they've got!!!

In my experience, operating the 76 for the last few years for AAE/XL, I've never been told-
"We were never allowed to declare an emergency for an engine fire/failure there.
We were told that it would hurt the Etops program on their 767 aircraft.
Of course no log book entrys were allowed either."
Sounds OTT IMHO

I've never worked for AAI, but things could've been different then...

[abra]

Ganbare
Your experience with the cracked blade must have been at least 18 months or more ago.Since then all the 767s and 757s previously operated by AAI have been G-reg and have been looked after by Monarch engineers and more recently by XL's own(most of whom are ex-BA).
2Bad2Sad
I worked for AAI and was never ever told I wasn't allowed to declare an emergency after an engine fire/failure.Only a burk would listen to such advice anyway.Tech log entries,even now,are done with common sense.Minor things are left till the aircraft arrives back at home base,but then most charter airlines do that.Any doubts about problems down route would require a phone call to maintenace.
AAI's 'mechanics' were of a wider mix of ability and background than most airlines,some were excellent..some were hardly fit to call themselves 'spanners'.Their pilots shared the same wide mix of ability too..some were aces,some shouldn't have been allowed near a flightdeck.Considering the 'armpit' places we were sent to,I will always remember flying for them as great fun.
But 2Bad2Sad's posting makes for a good story.