Beoing 777 makes emergency landing in Seattle-Tacoma.
An Asiana 777 similar to that involved in Wednesday's incident. Photo by YSSYguy.
An airliner had to return to Seattle’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (KSEA) after experiencing a serious engine failure soon after takeoff. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200 ER (registration HL-7700) with 179 people on board departed KSEA at 2:45 PM PDT Wednesday (April 29, 2009) and soon the left engine caught fire. The plane returned to the airport safely.
The pilots of the airplane (Flight OZ 271) contacted air traffic controllers (ATC) soon after takeoff to indicate that they had an engine failure and needed to return to the airport. The pilot then asked the tower if he could dump fuel and was instructed that he could do so once the aircraft was flying over water. The plane then dumped fuel over the Puget Sound to lower its landing weight to a level that was safe to land on. The 777 then landed at KSEA safely and even taxied to the gate under its own power. The flight was originally headed for South Korea’s Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN; ICAO: RKSI).
Planes, such as this 777, are designed to fly on one engine and the passengers were never in any extreme danger. The flight crew followed the proper procedures to secure the failed engine, which according to witnesses in the plane and on the ground was on fire. Once the engine was secure and the fire extinguished, all the pilots had to do was lower the plane’s weight to an acceptable landing weight (by dumping fuel) and return to land at the airport. While it may seem that dumping fuel is very harmful for the Puget Sound, most of the fuel dumped dissipated before even reaching the ground. However, some people reported that fuel did reach the ground near the shore. The plane was between 2,000 and 4,000 feet up when it dumped fuel.
The passengers were taken to Seoul on an Asiana flight on Thursday (same flight as in the previous day).
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