Swiss B773 near Iqaluit on Feb 1st 2017, engine automatically shut down in flight
Last Update: February 9, 2017 / 08:43:47 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 1, 2017
Classification
Incident
Airline
Swiss
Flight number
LX-40
Departure
Zurich, Switzerland
Destination
Los Angeles, United States
Aircraft Registration
HB-JND
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-300
ICAO Type Designator
B773
The airline confirmed an indication of a fault of the left hand engine caused an automatic shutdown of the engine, as had been technically designed. The flight crew decided to divert to Iqaluit where the aircraft landed safely. The airline is currently working to take the passengers to Los Angeles.
A Swiss Airbus A330-300 registration HB-JHK positioned from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Iqaluit as flight LX-7002 and took the passengers from Iqaluit to New York's JFK Airport as flight LX-7003.
Swiss confirmed the passengers were taken to New York on flight LX-7003 and are going to continue their journey to Los Angeles as quickly as possible.
A passenger reported there had been no unusual sounds or vibrations before the captain announced that an engine had failed and they were diverting to Iqaluit. During talks with the cockpit while waiting for the relief flight the captain indicated the crew was puzzled too that the engine just ran down without any unusual indication, sounds or vibrations. On the ground in Iqaluit the aircraft initially could not turn around on the runway, a tow tug subsequently pushed the aircraft back onto the apron about 45 minutes after landing. The passengers were kept on board and were served dinner, customs in Iqaluit is geared to handle international flights with up to 15 passengers only and it didn't make a lot of sense of taking 217 people through immigration, which certainly would take several hours. In the meantime all school busses of Iqaluit were dispatched to the airport to transfer the passengers from the Boeing 777 to the relief A333. While mechanics arriving with the A333 started to check out the engine of the Boeing 777, the cargo was first moved from the B773 to the A333. As there was only one stair available, that could handle the Boeing 777 or A330, the passengers then needed to first disembark and enter the busses, the stairs were then repositioned to the A330, the passengers subsequently embarked the A333 including the entire Boeing 777 crew, who positioned to New York, too. After arrival in New York the passengers were rebooked onto direct flights to their ultimate destinations.
The engine needs to be replaced, the occurrence aircraft is estimated to remain on the ground in Iqaluit for at least 5 days. A replacement engine is being flown in. First information suggests a magnetic chip detector registered metallic particles in the engine oil.
On Feb 4th 2017 an Antonov AN-124 registration UR-82007 delivered a new engine as well as needed tools, maintenance engineers and a tent to Iqaluit, the AN-124 is still on the ground in Iqaluit 2 days later, supposedly waiting to take the defective engine out of Iqaluit.
On Feb 7th 2017 the Canadian TSB reported the crew declared PAN due to the shut down of the left hand engine and diverted to Iqaluit. After landing the aircraft became trapped in the turn around bay at the threshold runway 16. The runway was closed per NOTAM until the aircraft was towed off the runway 67 minutes after landing.
On Feb 7th 2017 the new engine was installed on the aircraft after the defective engine had been removed on Feb 6th, the aircraft is now awaiting tests. The Antonov is still on the ground in Iqaluit obviously waiting also for all tools and tents besides the removed engine to be returned to Zurich.
On Feb 8th 2017 The Aviation Herald received information that the angle gearbox, connecting the gear box to the N2 rotor, cracked causing the gear box to disengage, as result the high pressure fuel pumps were no longer operating causing the engine to shut down due to fuel starvation. An engine restart was not attempted in consultation with dispatch and maintenance due to ACARS messages indicating activation of the magnetic chip detector. Following the engine change a high power engine run is now going to commence at Iqaluit, then the aircraft is estimated to position back to Zurich.
In the late evening of Feb 8th 2017 HB-JND departed Iqaluit as flight LX-5177 and landed in Zurich about 6 hours later. The AN-124 departed Iqaluit about 3 hours after HB-JND as flight ADB-2029 to East Midlands,EN (UK).
Metars:
CYFB 012200Z 34007KT 8SM -SN SCT062 BKN120 M23/M27 A2968 RMK SC3AC4 VIS W HIER /S01/ SLP055
CYFB 012100Z 35007KT 5SM -SN OVC054 M22/M25 A2966 RMK SC8 SLP051
CYFB 012000Z CCA 34007KT 5SM -SN BKN057 M21/M25 A2965 RMK SN3SC3 SLP046
CYFB 012000Z 34007KT 5SM R34/4000VP6000FT/U -SN BKN057 M21/M25 A2965 RMK SN3SC3SLP046
CYFB 011900Z 32006KT 4SM -SN SCT034 BKN055 M21/M24 A2964 RMK SN3SC1SC3 SLP042
CYFB 011800Z 31004KT 5SM -SN SCT035 BKN051 M21/M25 A2962 RMK SN2SC2SC3 CIG RAG SLP037
CYFB 011730Z 32004KT 5SM -SN SCT034 BKN050 BKN100 M21/M25 A2961 RMK SN2SC2SC2AC1 SLP033
CYFB 011700Z 32004KT 8SM -SN SCT042 BKN100 BKN140 M22/M25 A2961 RMK SN1SC3AC2AC1 SLP033
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 1, 2017
Classification
Incident
Airline
Swiss
Flight number
LX-40
Departure
Zurich, Switzerland
Destination
Los Angeles, United States
Aircraft Registration
HB-JND
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-300
ICAO Type Designator
B773
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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