British Airways Flight 268

British Airways Flight 268

Incident summary
Date	February 20, 2005
Type	Engine fire (No.2) and shutdown on climbout
Site	Los Angeles, USA
Passengers	351
Crew	18
Fatalities	0
Survivors	369 (all)
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-436
Operator	British Airways
Tail number	G-BNLG
Destination	London Heathrow, UK

British Airways Flight 268 was a regularly scheduled flight from Los Angeles' LAX airport to London Heathrow. The flight took off at about 9:24 p.m. on February 20, 2005. When the plane, a four engine Boeing 747-436, was about 300 feet into the air, flames burst out of its number 2 engine. The pilots shut the engine down. Air traffic control expected the plane to return to the airport and deleted the flight plan. However, after consulting with the airline dispatcher, the pilots decided to set off on their flight plan "and get as far as we can" rather than dump 70 tonnes of fuel and land. While 747s are certified to fly on three engines, doing so leaves much less room for error. Upon reaching the UK, believing there to be insufficient usable fuel to reach their destination, the captain declared an emergency and landed at Manchester Airport.

A safety controversy ensued; the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) accused the carrier of flying an "unairworthy" plane across the Atlantic ocean. The FAA proposed fining the carrier $25,000, BA lodged an appeal on the grounds that they were flying according to Civil Aviation Authority rules (which are derived from the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards). In the end, the FAA told British Airways it was dropping the case based on assurances that airline changes will "preclude the type of extended operation that was the subject of this enforcement action." . BA said they hadn't changed their procedures and according to Flight International the FAA said that they "will recognise the CAA's determination that the aircraft was not unairworthy"

References

• ABC News Report