Fire on Edinburgh flight carrying 200 passengers to New York caused by fuel leak, investigation finds

On February 10, 2023, the New York-bound plane, which was carrying 211 passengers, was forced to make an emergency landing at Prestwick Airport after the flight crew noticed vibrations throughout the aircraft. 

One passenger recorded flames emerging from beneath the wing of the plane during the flight before all passengers and crew were ‘rapidly disembarked with no injuries.’ It is understood the plane, which had been in operation since 1997, lost a quarter of its fuel during the flight.

One passenger recorded flames emerging from beneath the wing of the plane | AAIB

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that a high-pressure turbine blade fractured in the right engine shortly after take-off caused by ‘fatigue cracking’. 

The blade then damaged a further five blades causing heavy vibrations, prompting the pilot to say ‘I don’t want to stay in the air with that engine’.

The damage caused a slat track housing drain tube to fracture in the wing, allowing fuel to escape from the right wing fuel tank, which was then ignited by the hot engine exhaust. It was reported that the flames were extinguished prior to the plane landing.

Emergency crews scrambled to evacuate passengers at Prestwick Airport with the airport fire service putting provisions in place to capture the fuel and prevent it from igniting.

AAIB

The AAIB stated that, had the fire spread, ‘there was the potential for a more significant event to have occurred’.

It added: “It was estimated that approximately 1,100 lb of fuel were lost from the aircraft during the period from the fracture of the drain tube to the completion of the fuel transfer after the aircraft was on stand.

“The passenger video of flames coming from the rear of the wing was likely to be the fuel streaming from the dry bay drain hole into the air flow and being ignited in the hot jet efflux. The absence of soot or heat damage on the engine cowlings suggests that the flames were behind the engine rather than being an engine fire.

“No ignition took place, but this did present significant potential for a fuel fire.”

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.

Boeing will now review the design of the drain tube for potential reliability improvements but the report added ‘at the time of publication the manufacturer had found that there was no increased risk to a catastrophic outcome from a failed drain tube’.

The decision is being reviewed by The Federal Aviation Administration.