Historic Engine Fire
 

Hi All

I hope this post is in the right place, but I assume it will be moved if not.

About 1986 (I was a kid and might not have got the year right), I was flying from Cape Town to London, I think on SAA and I think on a 747. There was a fire on (again, I think) the number 2 engine, which was extinguished, and after a bit of time we landed back in Cape Town. Another, slightly differently configured aircraft, came down from Jo'Burg to take us to London. I have tried to find information about this and have failed - does anyone either have info, or know where I can look for it?

Dariat
By slightly reconfigured do you mean it could be a 747 Combi or maybe SP as it may help narrow things down for those who were flying at the pointy end , in the front seats in identifying your child hood memories.

Cheers
Mr Mac

When you say fire, do you mean with flames coming out of the No.2 engine or a compressor stall or similar ? I'd imagine with the former it would have been picked up by the newspapers/local tv, whereas the latter might have been reported only within aviation circles. Both serious, but viewed differently by the media.

Cannot place that one Spring Heeled...

I do recall when standing outside on the Ramp on the LHR November stands at T1 (opposite runway 28R) early one Spring evening in the 1980's when an SAA 747 Super B touched down and a huge ball of flame came out of the front from #2 (I assume a Surge upon selecting Thrust Reverse).
All very dramatic, and the AFS soon came out and escorted the Jumbo to a Stand.

It was also odd for an Evening arrival, as the SAA Jumbo's always came in to LHR from JNB and CPT in the early morning.


(BTW we had a Traffic Officer colleague at BMA LHR whom we nicknamed Springheel Jack)

I recall watching a BA (I think, might have been Pan Am) 747 landing on 23 and a similar thing happened, though it just taxied off towards T3 with no attending AFS. Must have been a good headwind as it slowed to taxi speed well short of 28L!