El Al flight makes emergency landing at Heathrow after mid-air engine fire
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: london
El Al flight makes emergency landing at Heathrow after mid-air engine fire
El Al flight makes emergency landing in U.K. after mid-air engine fire Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
An El-Al flight heading from London to Tel Aviv was forced to perform an emergency landing in Heathrow airport on Thursday, after one of its engines caught fire minutes following takeoff.
The incident occurred about 20 minutes after flight 318 took off from the U.K. airport with 411 people aboard, around 1 A.M. Israeli time, when a loud thump was heard on the right side of the Boeing 747-400 airliner.
A strong smell was then reported in the cabin, with the jetliner losing thrust. The pilots, headed by captain Ilan Margalit then redirected the plane toward Heathrow, where emergency crews were deployed ahead of the unscheduled landing.
The crew began to undertake emergency procedures, during which a trail of fire was seen coming out of the engine, causing much alarm among the passengers.
Eventually, however, the pilots were able to safely land the plane with only three engines.
El Al said in response that it hoped that all of the passengers will be able to arrive in Israel in less than 24 hours.
Speaking to Haaretz, Margalit said that the incident was handled calmly, and that crew wasn't forced into taking extreme emergency measures. "I didn't have to dive or do a loop," he said, adding that he managed the episode "alertly, quietly, and calmly."
The emergency landing follows an incident in May, during which an El Al airliner bound for London was forced to land in Ben-Gurion International Airport shortly after taking off, after discovering a technical fault in its flaps.
The malfunction was discovered 40 minutes into its flight, at which point the plane was instructed to burn fuel and return to Tel Aviv. It then circled the port for another 40 minutes, before safely landing. The flight's were passengers transferred to another plane.
An El-Al flight heading from London to Tel Aviv was forced to perform an emergency landing in Heathrow airport on Thursday, after one of its engines caught fire minutes following takeoff.
The incident occurred about 20 minutes after flight 318 took off from the U.K. airport with 411 people aboard, around 1 A.M. Israeli time, when a loud thump was heard on the right side of the Boeing 747-400 airliner.
A strong smell was then reported in the cabin, with the jetliner losing thrust. The pilots, headed by captain Ilan Margalit then redirected the plane toward Heathrow, where emergency crews were deployed ahead of the unscheduled landing.
The crew began to undertake emergency procedures, during which a trail of fire was seen coming out of the engine, causing much alarm among the passengers.
Eventually, however, the pilots were able to safely land the plane with only three engines.
El Al said in response that it hoped that all of the passengers will be able to arrive in Israel in less than 24 hours.
Speaking to Haaretz, Margalit said that the incident was handled calmly, and that crew wasn't forced into taking extreme emergency measures. "I didn't have to dive or do a loop," he said, adding that he managed the episode "alertly, quietly, and calmly."
The emergency landing follows an incident in May, during which an El Al airliner bound for London was forced to land in Ben-Gurion International Airport shortly after taking off, after discovering a technical fault in its flaps.
The malfunction was discovered 40 minutes into its flight, at which point the plane was instructed to burn fuel and return to Tel Aviv. It then circled the port for another 40 minutes, before safely landing. The flight's were passengers transferred to another plane.
Joined: Mar 2002
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 9,188
Likes: 961
From: Seat 1A
the incident was handled calmly, and that crew wasn't forced into taking extreme emergency measures. "I didn't have to dive or do a loop," he said
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,780
Likes: 0
From: Surrounded by aluminum, and the great outdoors
Yes, if one does a perfectly symmetrical loop, the burning engine will ingest it's own flame trail, thus canceling out the fire, like starting a back-fire during a forest fire....




Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,133
Likes: 0
From: Bracknell, Berks, UK
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 728
Likes: 0
From: Cape Town / UK / Europe
The pictures on Google are probably copyright and for a newspaper to use them would be asking for trouble. They might not have had time to obtain the necessary permission from the copyright owners.
Or they might just be bungling idiots who didn't bother to check their picture against the facts!
Or they might just be bungling idiots who didn't bother to check their picture against the facts!

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,133
Likes: 0
From: Bracknell, Berks, UK
...yes and so "el al 747-400 royalty free" gives you this within a couple more seconds:
Boeing 747-400 AL EL Airlines | Stock Photo | iStock
I'd go with your latter suggestion
Boeing 747-400 AL EL Airlines | Stock Photo | iStock
I'd go with your latter suggestion
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 1,880
Likes: 0
From: Dublin, Ireland
4X-ELD
The aircraft was 4X-ELD, the newest of the airline's four -400s:
JetPhotos.Net Photo » 4X-ELD (CN: 29328) El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 747-458 by John Fitzpatrick
Here's a report from The Aviation Herald:
Incident: El Al B744 near London on Jul 4th 2012, engine shut down in flight
JetPhotos.Net Photo » 4X-ELD (CN: 29328) El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 747-458 by John Fitzpatrick
Here's a report from The Aviation Herald:
Incident: El Al B744 near London on Jul 4th 2012, engine shut down in flight
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 684
Likes: 0
From: Hungary
This is the route: FlightAware > Israel Airlines (LY) #318 > 04-Jul-2012 > EGLL-LLBG Flight Tracker
Here is the flight data information: FlightAware > Flight Track Log > ELY318 > 04-Jul-2012 > EGLL-LLBG You can see how it made it to FL270 before going down again.
It's only for interest, nothing spectacular
Here is the flight data information: FlightAware > Flight Track Log > ELY318 > 04-Jul-2012 > EGLL-LLBG You can see how it made it to FL270 before going down again.
It's only for interest, nothing spectacular

Last edited by Tonic Please; 6th July 2012 at 08:21.

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 17,687
Likes: 2,030
From: Reading, UK
and to add this quote from the opening post: "It then circled the port for another 40 minutes, before safely landing." - No, it did not
That quote was nothing to do with this week's incident, it was a reference to an incident in May when a London-bound flight was forced to return to TLV.





