An Air China 777-300 was forced to return to Washington Dulles after a flames erupted from the left engine after takeoff. An eyewitness captured the entire scene on video using a mobile phone.
Air China Flight 818, bound from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Beijing (PEK), took off on Tuesday at 4:39 p.m. EDT. During takeoff, the left engine caught fire, sending torrents of flames from the rear of the engine. Pilots remained in touch with the tower throughout the ordeal and after dumping fuel, returned to the airport at 5:54 p.m.
The fire department met the aircraft, but that turned our to be unnecessary. No injuries were reported and the fire had subsided. Passengers were offered hotel and meal accommodations and the aircraft is currently being serviced. No word yet on the extent of the damages, the timeframe for repair, or the precise cause of damage.
But the interesting twist to this story is that someone on the ground captured the post-takeoff incident from a clear and unobstructed view.
The incident may have been triggered by a bird strike, though I cannot make out any birds in the video above.
Thus far, Air China has not released a statement on this incident and Washington Dulles authorities have only confirmed that CA818 was involved.
> Read More: Air China 737 Rapidly Drops 25,000 Feet
Laughing at the comment on video, “Whoa, that was frickin impressive!” It was like watching a Wayne’s World clip.
Your headline is misleading; the 777 did not “catch fire over Washington Dulles”. The engine flamed out. That’s not a fire on an aircraft. Big, big difference. I enjoy your blog and am confident that you are above placing clickbait headlines on your pieces.
If you are familiar with the history this blog then you probably know Matthew is one of the clickbait-est of all points bloggers.
I wonder how safe it is to dump fuel at the same time an engine is flaming out fire. You have a live source of fire and you start spraying fuel around it? I understand the need to dump fuel but…….
The flame out occurs for a mere second or two. The engine is then shut down and secured and the fuel dump is started afterwards. Again, I can see why you’d think this with the misleading headline on the article. The aircraft did not catch fire.
I agree with the previous comment. It was a simple compressor stall on an engine which results in a quick flame out due to a small amount of unburned fuel vapor reaching the exhaust phase and igniting. This is common when engines experience compressor stalls and result in a loss of thrust. The aircraft did not catch fire as the headline states.
Knowing the carrier, this must be pilot error.
“Torrents of flame” ? Usually you are not given to such hyperbole . It more like sparks than flames…
That looks like a compressor stall, not a flameout or bird strike. Still, those announce themselves to everyone on the plane as a loud BANG (and sound like a gunshot if you’re close enough to witness them on a takeoff roll). Not what you want to hear before a 12+ hour polar route with a defined point-of-n0-return.
Misleading headline. Sad exploitation to get clicks.
Where did they dump fuel do we know?
I have been on this exact aircraft