Flight International online news 08:00 GMT: A Japanese Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 made an emergency landing late on 12 August after one of its engines caught fire over southern Japan.
JALways confirmed an engine on one of its DC-10 caught fire soon after takeoff from Fukuoka, leading the flight crew to dump fuel and make an emergency landing at Fukuoka airport.
The engine caught fire at 19:46hr local time after taking off for Honolulu in Hawaii. After the emergency landing the 213 passengers on board were transferred to another aircraft headed for Honolulu.
The Company says the engine has been transferred to Tokyo to be studied and the aircraft is now being refitted with another engine. It says the aircraft is registered JA8845 and is only 14 cycles away from being retired.
According to Avsoft’s ACAS database, this particular aircraft was built in 1980 and has Pratt & Whitney JT9D-59A engines.
Some news reports in Japan say metal fragments, some as large as 3cm in length, have been found in some Fukuoka residential areas and are believed to have come from the engine that caught fire.
JAL announced last year that JALways’ five DC-10s, all of which it owns, would be phased out by March 2006.
Source: Flight International
