RAPID ENGINE-OIL loss on both engines forced a British Midland Airways Boeing 737-400 crew to make an emergency landing at London Luton Airport on 23 February.
UK Civil Aviation Authority records show that blanking plates had not been replaced after borescope inspections of the two engines, and that this led to oil loss.
The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch is to conduct a "formal investigation". The airline says that it has temporarily suspended three maintenance engineers while an internal probe is completed.
The incident started as the aircraft climbed out from East Midlands Airport for Lanzarote, Canary Islands, with 177 passengers and six crew. When low-oil-pressure warnings for both engines were received at 12:08, the crew declared a full emergency and landed the aircraft safely at 12:14, shutting down the engines immediately upon stopping. Each engine is said to have had 1.5litres (0.3gal) of oil remaining of the normal 22litres.
Missing O-ring oil seals caused an Eastern Airlines Lockheed TriStar to force-land at Miami on 5 May, 1983, with two engines failed.
Source: Flight International
