‘Mayday': Major airline forced to dump fuel after engine failure
Flightradar24 footage shows the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was bound for Munich doing several loops at almost 6,000 feet before landing safely back at the US airport.
It took off at 5.40pm local time on July 25, but moments later the aircraft suffered a malfunction in its left engine, with quick thinking flight crew initiating emergency protocols, including a fuel dump.
Fuel dumping (or a fuel jettison) is a procedure used by aircraft in certain emergency situations or due to maintenance issues.
It is done before a return to the airport shortly after takeoff, or before landing short of the intended destination (emergency landing) to reduce the aircraft's weight.
The pilots on-board flight UA108 repeated 'Mayday', marking the severity of the issue and co-ordinated with Air Traffic Control (ATC) to stabilise the situation.
The audio between flight crew and ATC was released on the 'You can see ATC' YouTube channel showing the calm and seamless action by crew and the controller.
Pilot: 'Failure. Engine failure. Left engine, United 18, declaring an emergency.'
Pilot: 'Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.'
ATC: 'Heavy, roger that, sir. Are you able to make your way in, in fact, into the field at this time? You can turn right heading 10 if able.'
Pilot: 'Right turn to 10, United 18 heavy.'
ATC: 'I'm going to keep you going with that one at 6000 …'
Pilot: 'Okay, we're level at five. We'd like to just stay here, heavy. Say again, please.'
Pilot: 'Left engine failure. 1 — that's souls on board 10, about 5 hours of flight time.'
ATC: 'Heavy, roger that. Would you like to stay at 5,000 to get a bit closer, or would you like to …'
Pilot (interrupting): 'Have me starting? You're on final, United 18 heavy. Good job, sir, that's — if there's anything I can do, again … setting up for the ILS.'
ATC: '19 Center, 1 heavy, clear to village, turn right heading 16, 19 Center.'
Pilot: '160 to 19 Center, we're working on a checklist for now, so we may — we might need to hold.'
ATC: 'Okay. Just advise, sir, speed at your discretion. If I need to take you back out for another loop, that's perfectly fine. Just let me know what I can do for you.'
Pilot: 'Okay, we'll let you know.'
At about 6 minutes into the audio, the pilot advised fuel dumping was in progress 16km west of Dulles, northbound, at 6000 feet.
Not all aircraft are equipped with fuel-dumping systems; typically, only larger, wide-body planes have this capability, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – the United States' primary authority for regulating and overseeing civil aviation.
Similar to that of Australia, the US also has strict procedures on when and where it can occur.
The controller then advised the pilot when it was safe to approach the runway for landing.
Upon landing, the aircraft taxied off the runway but required a tow due to the disabled left engine, according to Aviation a2z.
No injuries were reported, and the incident is expected to be investigated further by the airline and relevant aviation authorities.
It is understood jettisoned fuel vaporises rapidly and disperses widely – meaning it is highly unlikely to reach the ground and have a negligible effect on air or water quality or the environment.
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