XL Airways new 737 diverts to LCA
 

I see XL's latest bird had an unscheduled stop in Cyprus last night. Reported to be Boeing 737-900, registration G-XLAR. Fresh out of the box last month - hope it's nothing serious..........

There was quite a mess coming out of the engine!!

thats correct, thats going to mess XL's MAN operations up abit, they might have to draft their 767-200 up to cover, kudos to the crew.

btw the FO wasnt you "stue" was it?


G-STAW

Cannot understand why after losing an engine so close after take off and declaring an emergency they didn't land at the nearest airport. Instead they flew for more than an hour before landing in Cyprus.

Such disrespect for passengers and their safety deserves an occurance report.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me, has XL by any chance got its own maintenance in Cyprus?

yamaha, are you in possession of all the facts then? If not how are you able to pass such a judgement on the crews' actions?

G-STAW, no mate, wasn’t me, was a good friend of mine though.

You were not there and don’t have all the facts and info, so passing judgment like that is simply not needed.

Yes we do have maintenance in Larnaca. It’s not for me to discuss the crew’s actions. But in my opinion a bloody good job well done to all the crew. :D

Will make interesting conversation next time we go out for a beer......;)

Yamaha - you dont have any facts to support your allegation of "disrespect for passengers and their safety", be very careful posting such tosh.


I know for sure that it happened in the cruise therefore Cyprus was the closest airport and by luck XL also have maintenance support there, perhaps not by luck considering the volume of overflying XL aircraft to SSH and also the amount of traffic they have into Cyprus.

:ugh:

Yes, actually fireflybob you are correct I am jumping the gun.

Does XL have it's own maintenance in cyprus? (already answered as yes)

Is there any significant difference in runway length between say...Cairo and Larnaca? (again yes. Cairo is much much longer)

So that only leaves where were they when it happened....

ditto.

I was chatting to an XL engineer this morning, he seemed in abit of a rush, he was under the impression he was on the next flight the cyprus, he didnt have the full details at hand but he said it maybe just a teething problem, and not an engine write off.

G-STAW

Not sure about the -900 but on the -3/4/500, you can if necessary. However, if there is no need to (for example, if there is an engine rundown with no fire), you should burn off the fuel to get the weight down below MLW. If that takes an hour, you can perhaps consider other options as your nearest suitable airport. For non-ETOPS aircraft, this can be anywhere within an hour's single-engine flying time.

But as it's been deleted what is so controversial about being 15 minutes from Cairo?

Or is there something to hide here?

Something to hide where? The fact was they were not 15mis from Cairo and you were not on the flight deck.

I don’t understand where you are going with this……?
:rolleyes:

ok if you say so.

But would it be considered perfectly normal and without any additional risk
if I were to suffer engine failure on a 737 15 mins from Cairo but decided to fly for an additional 70 mins to Larnaca which has a much shorter runway after twice declaring an emergency?

yamaha

No offence mate, and while this is a rumour board, there is no point getting all worked up until all the facts are known. I am unsure if AAIB will be involved, due to the nature of the emergency they will probably be interested. After all the facts are out then you can get on your soapbox.

Regards

Muddy

The CAA will be involved, if not the AAIB.

none taken muddyboots.

It isn't just a rumour board though is it.

It is the PROFESIONAL Pilots Rumour Network

It is professional so lets keep it professional. I know for a fact that the crew will and are looking into and evalualting evrything they did and they would appreciate your comments in a positive way so that they could confirm with themselves that they did the best they could. This is after all what everyone of us professoinals aim to do.

You may well have been 15mins from Cairo but i doupt the XL aircraft was and the fact they did have to declare an Emergancy twice to the Cairo Controller may sugest a reason why you might want to divert to a Familiar airfield within single engine cruise distance with company support on the ground.

Guys, the facts are it happened at the top of climb and not just after take-off. And they were not just 15 mins from Cairo. It really is shocking to read the statements that have been written before all the facts are known. Larnaca is a great choice because the runway is completely satisfactory and there is excellent emergency cover, plus we have a base there so the pilots are more familiar with this diversion choice.

The engine is awaiting a boroscope inspection but it is most likely a write-off with a replacement coming from France or Germany. A 767 is picking up the flights for the time being.

The captain and first officer and really good guys and we're proud of the crew.

Sounds like a job well done by a professional crew!

Thanks for some solid information. Out of interest though, where approximately would "top of climb" be out of SSH enroute MAN?