Boeing faces fresh safety questions after engine fire on flight from Scotland

Boeing faces fresh questions about the safety of its aircraft after an engine fire on a transatlantic flight from Edinburgh caused an emergency landing soon after takeoff.

Flames were seen by passengers briefly shooting from the engine of a Delta Air Lines 767 soon after it took off for New York in February last year, after a turbine blade broke off during takeoff.

The flames subsided while the plane was airborne but it made an emergency landing at Prestwick airport south of Glasgow, where ground crew noticed fuel leaking from the plane’s right wing.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the UK government agency that investigates aviation safety, has written to the Federal Aviation Administration in the US asking it to take action with Boeing, which has its headquarters in Virginia.

The AAIB said the fractured turbine blade damaged five other blades in the engine. Vibrations from the “out of balance turbine” caused a tube carrying fuel in the wing to fracture, leading fuel to escape from the wing’s fuel tank.

The fuel was ignited by the engine’s hot air exhaust, with footage of the flames captured by a passenger sitting near the wing.

In a statement, the AAIB said: “A safety recommendation has been made to the Federal Aviation Administration that requires the Boeing Aircraft Company to demonstrate that following this serious incident, the design of the slat track housing drain tube on the Boeing 767 family of aircraft continues to comply with the certification requirements for large transport aircraft.”

The Delta flight to JFK airport in New York was carrying 211 passengers and 10 crew. It said two members of the cabin crew had heard a rattling sound as the Boeing taxied for takeoff, which appeared to come from the cargo hold.

Nothing abnormal was seen or heard by the pilots, but the noise continued during takeoff. They warned the flights purser, who tried but failed to warn the pilots on the plane’s internal phone. She made contact at the second attempt and said passengers were alarmed by the “quite bad” noise.

A temperature indicator for the right engine began fluctuating. The flight commander walked the length of the aircraft but could not locate any specific issues. He decided to divert the plane to Prestwick, which has long runways, as a precaution.

En route to Prestwick, the flames were filmed by a passenger. The flames disappeared and the commander decided to fly on with the right engine at reduced power.

There were no injuries as a result of the incident but the AAIB said all those onboard were “rapidly disembarked” once the fuel leak was spotted at Prestwick.

Boeing has been contacted for comment.

This is the latest in a series of safety incidents involving Boeing aircraft, which have contributed to company executives leaving in a management shake-up. It pleaded guilty to US criminal charges over the crashes of two 737 Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019 after violating an agreement with regulators in 2021.

It has also been sanctioned after a 737 Max 9 cabin panel blew out in mid-air on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, in January this year. A number of whistleblowers have gone public with concerns about safety culture and management at the company.

In 2021, the UK government temporarily banned from British airspace Boeing 777 aircraft which used the same type of engine which caught fire over Denver, Colorado.

• This article was amended on 18 July 2024. An earlier version showed an aircraft that was not appropriate to the story. This has been replaced.